New Yorks Finest
by xconcretegirl
Summary: Bella is a writer in New York City. Edward Cullen is part of the wealthiest family in the city. They work through their differences and fall in love, but will the rest of the family keep them apart?
1. Rain

A/N: This is my first fanfiction ever. Hope it's all right. The next chapters will be longer.  
I got the idea from Becoming Jane. =]

It was a cold, rainy day in New York City. Everyone sloshed through the wet streets and sidewalks, grumbling to themselves about moving to Florida or wishing they had taken the subway today. All around me there was a sea of black umbrellas.

This was one of those mornings where I knew I should have stayed in bed. I had known it as soon as I had pressed the snooze button on my alarm clock one too many times and had finally woken up with a start, finding that I was now ten minutes late. I had rushed through getting dressed, finding that my favorite black skirt had a rip in it, and I was now stuck in ugly black dress pants and a blue blouse that I had never been a fan of. And I came outside and it was raining.

I rushed through the people filled sidewalk to my office, trying to avoid slipping on the wet ground, or being hit in the head by someones umbrella.

Of course things didn't get any better when I finally got to work-15 minutes late-and apologized to Mr. Crowley, my boss, and sat down in my office. I started up my computer and tossed my jacket on the back of my chair. I sat down, trying to relax for a minute. Coffee would have helped, but I hadn't had time to stop at Starbucks on my way here.

"Good morning!" Rosalie Hale chirped, walking into my office, looking as beautiful and cheerful forever. My annoyance at her happiness disappeared the moment I realized she was holding _two _coffees, though.

"Please say that's for me," I said, aware that I sounded desperate.

She laughed and held it out for me. "Don't worry, Bella, it is. I could hear you swearing at your closet this morning when I left, so I figured you could use it."

I took it, taking a long drink before looking at her again. "Why didn't you wake me up?" Rosalie and I were best friends, more like sisters, really. We had known each other our entire life, and had been friends for all of it. We had lived next store to each other, in our little New York suburb. My mother had died when I was three, and Mrs. Hale had taken care of me whenever my Dad-a police chief-hadn't been around, which was often. I had grown up with Rosalie and her twin brother, Jasper. Rosalie and I had gone to college together, and moved to New York City together. We had even gotten lucky enough to work at in the same building, for the newspaper. She wrote the gossip column, though, while I generally worked on my serious pieces.

She shrugged. "I had to leave early, remember? I'm working on that Cullen story."

Ah. The Cullen's. New York's most well known family, and probably the richest as well. They were constantly in Rosalie's colum, and we were often doing pieces for them, engagements, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. Therefore Rosalie knew the Cullen's well.

"What's the big story there?" I asked, wondering if one of them was getting married or something. They had three adult children-all single-so that seemed likely.

Her astoundingly blue eyes lit up. "It's a party for the youngest son, Edward. He passed his bar exam, he's a lawyer now. It's to celebrate. I'm covering the whole thing."

I rolled my eyes, taking another drink of my coffee. "They would have a party for everything, wouldn't they?" I muttered.

Now Rosalie rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Bella, this is important. People don't become Lawyers everyday-"

"Actually-" I started to cut her off.

"-and it's going to be a great party. And I get to go!" Of course that would be all Rosalie cared about. I loved her, but I didn't share her love for parties.

"That's great," I told her. "You'll have a great time."

She smiled, and I saw that glint in her eyes and groaned, knowing was coming. "They told me I could bring a guest, Bella. And since I'm not dating anyone right now, please come with me!" I opened my mouth to say something, but she went right on talking before I could get a word out. "It would mean so much to me, and we'd have such a great time, and you can take the pictures, if you want. I know you want to prat ice your photography a bit more, and we'll get to dress up and-"

I shook my head. "This is why you brought me coffee, isn't it?" I demanded.

"C'mon Bella!"

"Fine." I growled.

She squealed and I winced at the noise. She tossed her arms around my neck. "Thanks! I'll find you the perfect thing to wear and-"

"Great, great," I agreed, turning to my computer. "Now if you don't mind, I really have to work on the story about that fire..." I trailed off and she nodded, still grinning. She headed for the door, turning to look at me for a minute before actually leaving. "It'll be great," she promised.

Yeah. Great.

-----

Rosalie and I walked home from work together. The rain had let up, and only a few umbrellas still lingered in the crowd.

Rosalie was positively bubbly, her arm through mine as she talked about the party and what we would wear. I knew I lucky that she hadn't brought this party up until today, or it probably would have entailed a shopping trip as well. At least I would be skipping that torture.

"You'll love the Cullens, they are so nice," she gushed, as we got to our apartment and I pulled my key out, unlocking the door.

"I'm sure I will," I murmured, setting my briefcase down on the counter as I walked into the kitchen. I headed over to the fridge to find a soda. I needed caffeine if I was going to put up with Rosalie dressing me up and a party. The fact is, I didn't think I would like the Cullen's. I had never met them before, only seen them from a distance and read and heard about them through Rosalie. They were so rich, all with nice careers like doctors and lawyers. They were always dressed to the nines and they drove expensive sport cars. I had always gotten the impression that they were flaunting their wealth. And because of that I found it hard to imagine them being nice people, and not snotty and arrogant. Rosalie loved them...but I couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't just because she had a huge crush on their oldest son, Emmett.

I pulled the pop tap on the soda and took a drink.

"Bella!" Rosalie called and I sighed, walking down the hallway to my room, where she was going through my closet. She pulled out a pale blue dress and held it in my general direction, then shook her head and shoved it back into the closet, going through the rest of my clothes. She finally pulled out a deep blue satin dress that was knee length with spaghetti straps. I eyed the dress doubtfully, but she assured me that the color looked great on me, and ordered me to change into it. She spent the next hour humming to herself while she curled my hair and applied makeup. When she finished I to admit I looked pretty good.

My brown hair fell down my back in waves, and my makeup was light, but brought out my brown eyes.

Rosalie disappeared into her room to change and came back out wearing a red dress that showed off her figure perfectly. She had her hair straight and loose, and was wearing only a little bit of makeup. Rosalie was model pretty, she didn't need to work at it.

"Hoping to catch Emmett Cullen's eye?" I teased.

She smirked. "You never know, Bella, he might ask me out. He's been very...sociable, at the last few parties. I think it's just a matter of time," she smiled, her eyes lighting up.

"Well, I hope he asks you," I told her honestly.

"Me too!" she laughed, and tossed a pair of dark blue heels in my direction. I caught them and made a face.

"Are you serious?" I asked, staring at the three inch heels.

"Put them on, Bella," she almost growled.

I grumbled a bit, but put them on, hoping that most of the evening would be spent sitting down. I was bound to have even more clumsy moments than usual in these heels.

We grabbed out purses and Rosalie grabbed her notepad and camera-which she gave to me-and we called a cab, to take us to the country club.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Rosalie declared, grabbing my arm as we waited for our cab to stop.

I shoot her a weary look. I had a very bad feeling about this.

_Thanks for reading!! PLEASE leave me a review, I've never really put any of my work out like this, and I'd love some feedback. _


	2. The Party

**Thanks so much to everyone who read and reviewed this. It means a ton to me. Thanks again. :]**

**Sorry this chapter isn't too long...I had a lot of trouble with it. I have a few more chapters written for it already though, and I'm much happier with them, so stick with me. **

2. The Party.

EPOV.

This was ridiculous.

I know my family loves to throw parties-for any occasion-and I knew that this was a big step in my life. I was really a lawyer now. Just like my Grandfather and older brother, Emmett, were. I would be part of their firm now. It was what I had always wanted to do, had always dreamed of doing. I hadn't wanted it just because that's what was expected of me, it was what I really wanted to do.

But this party was over the top. As anything was, when it involved my younger sister, Alice. The party had been her idea, and she had done all the planning for it. She was reponsible for all the lavish table settings, the large picture of me at the entrance were people could sign their congratulations, the white Christmas style lights that were hanging all over the entrance and the porch in the back for dancing. And of course for the newspaper people that would, of course, be here any second.

This party was probably bigger than our last engagement party.

I shook my head, running a hand through my bronze hair, surveying the room again. I regonized most of the people, but there was also a great deal that I did not. Everyone seemed happy though, eating or dancing, smiling as they talked to each other. I almost smiled. People were never upset at an Alice Cullen party.

Unless you're the person the party is being thrown for.

"Congrats!" Emmett's voice boomed behind me, and he patted-more like whacked-me on the back and grinned. "Finally a lawyer. 'bout time."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. "Yep. It's nice to be finally done with all of that, and ready to move onto the real stuff."

"Yeah, it's great," Emmett shrugged. I knew that he wasn't all that happy with his job. He liked it well enough, but being the oldest son he had felt obligated to become one. It was either a doctor or a lawyer for us Cullen boys.

He glanced around the room and shook his head, coming to the same conclusion that I had on the party. "Alice went all out."

"Of course," I replied cooley.

"Here comes trouble," he said suddenly, then chuckled.

I turned to see what he was talking about, and spotted it immediately. Tanya. Of course she would be invited. My family was convinced that Tanya would be the perfect girl for me to marry. She was extremely good looking, well mannered, well known and rich.  
Tanya also thought she was the perfect girl for me. She walked towards me, smiling. She was wearing a pink dress that clung to her in all the right places, and her strawberry blond hair was pulled back, a few wisps falling in her blue eyes. She was gorgeous.

"Will you dance with me, Edward?" she asked, batting her unnaturally long eyelashes and holding her hand out to me.

"Of course, Tanya," I murmured, taking her hand and leading her out to the dance floor.

It was a slow song, and she put her arms around my neck, leaning into me while we swayed to the music.

I liked Tanya. She was a nice girl, all of the things my parents thought she was, but I just didn't love her. I had known her since I was seventeen, and we had dated off and on throughout the years, but I had never been in love with her, and I knew that wasn't about to change. I suspected that Tanya wasn't in love with me either, but her family was pushing her to me just as mine was. I wondered if we would finally crack and marry just to make everyone else happy, and then I shook my head. No, I wasn't going to marry Tanya.

"How does it feel to be a real lawyer?" she asked, looking up at me.

I smiled. "Feels great."

"Good. You'll make a great lawyer, Edward."

We danced in silence for a minute, and then she spoke again. "It's a really nice party."

I nodded in agreement. "It is. I imagine Alice is on top of the world right now."

Tanya smiled. She knew how Alice was too. "I'm sure she is. Tell her I said its beautiful, please."

"I will," I promised. "Though I might not be to happy with her once the newspaper gets here, and I have to stand for pictures and questions." I shook my head.

She laughed. "Well, here they are," she said, nodding towards the door.

I turned to look. An attractive blond in a flattering red dress walked in, and I recognized her instantly as Rosalie Hale. She had been to several of our latest parties and events, and I liked her quite a bit. If we had to have a reporter, I was glad that it was Rosalie.

Behind her was another woman. She had obviously come with Rosalie, because she was holding a camera, which she held out to Rosalie, who took it while she shrugged out of her black coat. She was wearing a dark blue dress. It looked amazing against her light skin. Her brown hair was long and wavy. She was beautiful, I realized, looking at her face. She was wearing makeup, but it was subtle, bringing out her natural beauty. I couldn't make out a lot of details from here, but I knew that much. And I wanted to know more.

---  
Bpov.

"The Cullen's sure go all out, don't they?" I murmured to Rosalie, as we walked into the ballroom at the country club. The entrance was decked out in lights, the tables overdone, and a ton of people crowded around the room, eating, talking and dancing.

Rosalie laughed, walking into the room. Her eyes were instantly scanning the room for someone, and I knew it wasn't Edward Cullen that she was looking for.

I shrugged out of my coat and looked around. It was easy to spot the Cullen's, even though I had never met them. I had seen their faces in photographs so many times. I recognized Dr. and Mrs. Cullen, standing off to the side, holding glasses of wine while they mingled. And Emmett Cullen talking to a tiny dark haired woman that after a minute I realized was Alice.

"There's Edward," Rosalie pointed towards the dance floor, and I saw him dancing with a blond haired woman. Probably his girlfriend.

I said nothing in return and Rosalie turned, heading in Emmett's direction. He smiled when he saw us walking towards them.

"Well, if isn't Rosalie Hale, our favorite reporter?" he grinned.

Rosalie smiled widely. "It's great to see you again, Emmett. This is my best friend, Bella Swan. She's a writer for the paper too."  
"Nice to meet you, Bella," he held out his large hand and smiled at me.

I smiled back and shook his hand. "You too," I replied politely.

He turned back to looking at Rosalie. He was a big guy, towering over us, with a big bulky build, but his smile rarely left his face as he and Rosalie battered playfully. If all the Cullen's were like Emmett, I was definitely wrong about them. No wonder Rosalie had such a crush on him.

After a few minutes Emmett looked down at the camera I was holding. "I guess you want to talk to Edward," he said, sounding recluant to end his conversation with Rosalie.

"Yeah, I guess so..." she said, glancing at me. "If I introduce you, Bella...would you mind doing the interview and stuff?" she murmured to me, turning away from Emmett slightly, so he wouldn't hear our exchange.

I glanced around the room and frowned slightly. This was going to mean mingling some, and taking some pictures of people enjoying the party, none of which sounded any fun, but she seemed so happy talking to Emmett, that I gave in.

"All right," I agreed.

She squeezed my arm. "Thanks Bella!" She practically squealed.

We didn't have to go anywhere for her to introduce me to Edward Cullen. When we turned back to Emmett, Edward had joined him, smiling at us.

I had to catch my breath as I looked up at him. He had bronze hair that was styled into careful disarray, an amazing smile and emerald green eyes that sparkled in the light here. He was gorgeous.

"Hello Rosalie," he greeted in a cool silky tone. He smiled at her, then his eyes moved to me.

"Hello, Edward. And Congratulations."

"Thank you," he replied politely, his eyes still on me.

I shifted my weight to my other foot, uncomfortable.

"This is my best friend, Bella Swan. Bella, this is Edward Cullen."

He held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Bella."

"You too," I murmured, shaking his hand. I looked up at his face and he was smiling at me. I blushed.

"Bella writes for the paper, too," Rosalie went on, explaining. "She's helping me with this piece."

"That's nice," he smiled again. "Would you like talk, then?" he offered.

"All right," I agreed.

"How about a dance?"

I raised an eyebrow, sure this wasn't the way they usually did things. I wondered idly if his girlfriend would be upset about this, but I agreed to the dance after a minute of hesitation, and he took my hand, leading me out onto the dance floor. I put my hands lightly on his shoulders, while he placed his on my waist.

"So you're a writer too," he mused.

I nodded. "I do current news," I explained.

"I don't recall seeing your name."

"They are usually published under Isabella Maire."

"I'll look for that."

We danced in silence for a minute, and I knew I'd better think of something to say to him.

"Congrats on passing your exam."

"Thank you," he smiled, and I knew that he was excited about this.

I smiled. "How does it feel to be a lawyer?"

"It's great." His smile widened.

He did seem extremely happy, and that took me a bit off guard. I guess because I knew the whole family was a lawyer-with the exception of Dr. Carlisle Cullen-and it was probably expected of him. I had expected some resentment, not happiness.

"So you'll be joining your family's firm." It wasn't really a question.

He nodded. "Yes."

It must be nice to have an already built and respected firm waiting for you. Especially one where your name would automatically get you cases. Everyone wanted to be represented by a Cullen. They always got the best cases just because of their name. Not that they needed the money or anything...

To my horror I realized that my thoughts slipped through my mouth, in a low mutter. I snapped my mouth shut as I realized it, blushing fiercely. _Oh God, tell me he didn't hear any of that...  
_He had, of course. I could feel it as he stiffened, and when I finally glanced up at him, his jaw was tight and his green eyes dark. "Yes, you're right. It is very nice to have a firm like ours waiting for me, and a secure job. I realize others aren't that fortunate." His voice was hard. He was upset, and I knew that I had sounded snide.

I wanted to apologize, or something, but what could I say? _Sorry, I mean I was thinking those things, but I didn't mean to say them out loud so you could hear them!_

I didn't think so. I wondered why I had even been thinking such snide things. He had been nothing but nice to me, up until his last sentence.

I struggled to find something else to say, some sort of apology, but I was coming up blank. The song came to an end, and we both stopped dancing. He moved his hands away, taking a step back. "Were those all your questions for me, Ms. Swan?" he asked, with a forced politeness.

I felt the blood rush to my face again. "Er, yes. I need to get a few pictures of you though..." I glanced around the room, hoping I could push the job off onto Rosalie, but she was standing off to the side, still talking to Emmett.  
He agreed to the pictures, posing for them with a dazzling smile that made it difficult for me to focus on getting the pictures. I thanked him once I was done, still blushing.

I started to turn to walk away when his voice stopped me. "Is that what you really think? That all we are is rich snobs?" he asked quietly.

"N-n-no," I stuttered out, blushing deep red. Why couldn't he have let it go?

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?" his voice was harsh.

Suddenly I wasn't embarrassed, I was angry. "Maybe it is what I think. I don't see any reason to think differently. It's hard to imagine that you're not, with your fancy parties for every occasion, and how often you guys are in the paper, like you are celebrities or something. You guys think money can buy you anything," I accused. The fact was that people that could walk through life so easily, being handed the best jobs and treatment annoyed me. I hadn't been poor as a child, but I hadn't been far from it. When my mom had died as a child, it had left me and my father alone. Charlie was a police chief, but we lived in a small town, and there wasn't much money. He hadn't had money to pay for me to go to college, or anything like that. I had to work hard to get where I was. I'd gotten a scholarship and loans to pay for my college. I was still paying for those loans. The only reason I had been able to move to the City was because Rosalie had offered to share an apartment for me, not wanting to come by herself. I had been lucky enough to find my great job at a respected and growing newspaper. I could pay for my own share of things now, and was paying off my remaining school loans, I even had some money to send to Charlie every month. It was nice getting ahead, but I had worked hard to get here.

"You might want to keep your judgements to yourself until you actually know a person," he growled.

"You haven't given me much to change to my opinion." I shot back.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, someone called his name.

"If you'll excuse me, Ms. Swan," he muttered, turning away from me.

_Way to go, Bella! _I groaned to myself. I really wished I hadn't even have thought those things.

But oh well, not much I could do now. I just wanted to get the rest of my pictures and get out of here. I snapped a few pictures of the party itself, got a few comments from people, and went in search of Rosalie.

I found her after a few minutes, still talking to Emmett. "Hey there," she greeted me as I walked over to her. "Did you get everything we need?"

I nodded. "Yes," I replied. "Actually Rose...I was wondering if we could leave now? I'm not feeling too well," I lied.

She raised an eyebrow skeptically, looking over me. I was sure she could see right through my lie. I was a terrible liar. But she nodded. "Sure, Bella," she agreed, looking back over at Emmett.

"I'll go get our coats and meet you at the door," I offered, so she could have a few more minutes with him.

She grinned at me, and then turned back to her conversation. I retrieved our coats and stood at the door, waiting for her. It took her a good ten minutes before she finally came over to me, and the smile on her face was huge.

"Bella! You will never guess!" she squealed as she shrugged on her coat and we walked outside to her car.

"What?"

"Emmett asked me out! We are going out to dinner and a movie tomorrow!"

"Oh, Rosalie! That's awesome!" I hugged her and she laughed, still smiling. "I'm happy for you!"

"Thanks! I'm so happy too. I can't believe it. Emmett Cullen asked me out!" she grabbed her keys out of her coat pocket and unlocked the door. We both got in, and I wondered if I shouldn't be driving, she had a dreamy expression on her face, and obviously she wouldn't be focused on the road...

"I uh, kind of got you a date too, Bella," she said suddenly, before I could offer to drive.

I stared at her, blinking a few times as her words sunk in. I had a bad feeling about this. "What?"

"Well, Emmett thought a double date would be best...most comfortable for our first date. So he said you should come along...and he'd bring someone too, for you."

"Who?" Even though I was sure I knew it would be. My stomach churned.

"Edward."

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you guys liked it. The next chapter should be out within in the next couple of days.  
Reviews are love. **


	3. Well This Should Be Fun

**A/N: Sorry, it's a pretty short chapter. I just felt like I need to get some of Edward's thoughts out there. I was going to have the date included in this chapter, but it would have been extremely long. I have the next chapter finished though, so I'll be posting that within the next day or so.  
Hope you enjoy it. :]**

Disclaimer: All characters belong to SMeyer. I'm just playing with them for a little while. 

Chapter Three.

BPOV.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Rosalie muttered, as she unlocked the door to our apartment and we walked inside. She shot me a disgusted look as she took her coat off and tossed it onto the couch.

Why couldn't she understand why I couldn't go out with Edward Cullen?

I scowled at her. "Rose, you don't understand. I basically told him he's a rich snob, I totally pissed him off. I'm sure he never wants to see me again, much less go out on a date with me!"

"But you have to come!" She protested.

I sighed, going into the kitchen. So what if it was almost midnight. I needed coffee!

"Please, Bella? I know it'll be really awkward for you, but Emmett's really important to me, I have to go out with him. Please, just do it for me. You won't have to see him again after tomorrow night," she was begging.

"Fine, I'll do it. But you owe me big time, Rosalie," I groaned.

She grinned, hugging me. "Thanks Bella! It won't be that bad, I promise!"

Yeah, it wouldn't be that bad. It would probably be even worse.

----

EPOV.

I found it hard to enjoy the rest of the party. It was two hours later-I was home-and I was still fuming over my conversation with Bella Swan.

It was ridiculous to be so upset over a short conversation with someone I had just met, and would never see again. I was used to people saying things like that, assuming that me and my family were nothing but snobs, and it rarely bothered me. They didn't know us, they didn't know me. And I suppose it was an easy conclusion to come too, if you had never really met us, just read the papers and such.

So why was it bothering me so much now? Why did it bother me so much that she had said it? She was just some girl, just a reporter.

I didn't like to admit it to myself, but I knew that I had been taken with her the moment I had walked over to them. She was gorgeous, a classic beauty with dark hair, and deep brown eyes. I had been drawn to her right away. Rosalie introduced her as her best friend, her roommate, Bella Swan. She was a writer for the same paper. While Rosalie and Emmett stared at each other with lovesick expressions that made me feel somewhat ill-it was no secret that he had a crush on Rosalie, not that he had ever done anything about it-I had offered Bella a dance. I had never done that with a reporter before, and I could tell she found it out of the ordinary, but after minute of hesitation she had agreed, and allowed me to lead her to the dance floor. While we danced we had some friendly conversation, questions for the newspaper piece, I'm sure, and her congratulations for my success before we'd fallen into a comfortable silence. She was extremely pleasant, and I had been just about to ask her some questions, to get to know her better, when she'd started muttering something about lawyers and money. I knew from the tone of her voice that she was implying that being a Cullen I would get the best cases, I wouldn't have to work for it. It was obviously something she hadn't intended to say, I had seen that from the way she suddenly stopped talking, and a red blush had covered her cheeks.

Knowing she hadn't meant to speak the words aloud hadn't made me feel any better though, she was still thinking those things. I had stiffened automatically. I really was used to those comments, and a lot of times I had to admit they were true. Our name did give us a whole lot of advantages. But it had hurt that this girl who I was quite taken with would have such a low opinion of me. Maybe she hadn't been all that great, after all.

When the dance was over I'd asked if her if that was it, and, still blushing, she had reminded me she needed some pictures for the piece too. I had agreed, posing and smiling for the paper. It was second nature for me, to pick that fake smile up whenever I needed it, no matter what I was really feeling. She snapped the pictures and thanked me, starting to leave.

And stupid me, I had to push the issue. "Is that really what you think of me?" I had asked her. Of course that's what she thought of me, she had no reason to think differently, and I wasn't helping change her mind. In the end I'd made her angry, and my mother had called me over to meet one of her friends or business acquaintances, and I'd had to leave. When I had finished being introduced, I had looked around the room for Bella. I'd wanted to apologize, or something. I had been rude. But she had been gone.

"What's your problem?" Emmett muttered, passing me in the hallway as I waked to my room.

I scowled. "Nothing." I glanced over at him, and he was grinning. "Why are you so happy?"

"I've got a date."

"Really," I murmured, uninterested. He always had dates, nothing unusual about that. As much as our mother wanted me to find a wife, they wanted Emmett married even more. Mom was worried about grandchildren or something.

My response wasn't what he wanted though, and he frowned at me. "Aren't you going to ask who it's with?"

What were we, five? I shook my head. "No."

"You really are in a bad mood, aren't you," he grumbled, then brightened again. "Rosalie Hale."

That took me a bit off guard. Wow, he'd finally asked her out. I'd begun to think there was nothing more than flirting going on there. "Really?"

He grinned. "Yep. We are going out tomorrow. A movie and dinner and all that. Keeping it casual," he explained, then looked at me, studying my expression.

"That's great," I said. "Why are you are staring at me?"

"Well, see, I figured it would be easier if we kind of went on a...double date. We'd each bring someone. So I figured I'd bring you along."

"Oh you did?" I scowled. Any other night I would have been much more agreeable to this sort of thing.

He shrugged. "I didn't think you'd mind."

I frowned. "I guess I don't. Who's Rosalie bringing?"

"Bella Swan."

"B-bella?" I stuttered out. The girl I had just been incredibly rude to, and probably hated me now. That Bella?

He nodded. "Yeah."

Oh. Great. Just great. "I can't go."

He glanced up at me sharply. "Why not? You're free."

"I can't go out with her, Em."

"Why not?" he demanded again. "I figured you'd be happy, you looked pretty into her while you guys were dancing."

"I am into her!" I almost shouted, and I glanced around the house to see if anyone had overheard my outburst, but the house seemed quiet with the exception of Emmett and I.

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is that...I made a jerk out of myself, and well, I just can't go out with her."

He grinned. "Just think of it this way, Edward, it's a great chance to apologize to her. Because you're going, like it or not."

A/N: As always, thanks for reading. And reviews are love. 3


	4. The Date

**A/N: So it's finally here, the long** **awaited date. :] It took me a while to write, but I had a lot of fun with it, so I hope you guys enjoy it.****Disclaimer: All characters belong to SMeyer. I'm only playing with them for a bit.**

-----------------------------

4. The Date.

BPOV.

"You're aware that I hate you for this, right?" I asked Rosalie, as she dug through my closet, trying to find me something for the 'date' tonight. I had figured that today she'd want to be focusing on her outfit and everything, since she had been wanting to go out with Emmett since forever. But no, as soon as she found out everything about the party, she wanted to make _me _look good.

"Yes," she agreed in a pleasant tone, grabbing a hanger from my closet and tossing it to me. "Here, and wear those nice skinny jeans. And heels. You'll look amazing. Edward won't care that you guys got off on the wrong foot."

"Does it matter?" I asked, glancing down at the white tank top with blue beaded flowers around the top she had picked out for me. "I'm only doing this for you. I probably won't even see Edward again after tonight."

"Oh, Bella," she sighed, shaking her head. She offered me no explanation, just ordered me to go change so she could go pick out her own outfit for tonight. I tossed a dark look her way, and changed into the jeans and top. I ignored her request for the heels and put on my worn out black converse. I pulled my hair back and skipped the makeup, grabbing my jacket and purse. I sat down on the couch, waiting for Rosalie. I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels absently. My stomach was churning, nervous for tonight. It was sure to be extremely awkward being with Edward. What would we say to each other? The best I could hope for is that we'd make dinner fast so there wasn't much time for small talk. At least we wouldn't have to make conversation during the movie.

"I'm ready!" Rosalie called, walking into the living room. She looked great, as usual. She gone for a simple look too, with skinny jeans, black boots and a red shirt. "How do I look?" she asked.

"Great," I replied, standing up. "Well, let's get this over with."

Rosalie chuckled, grabbing her purse and opening the door. We walked to the diner down the street where Emmett and Rosalie had decided to met. It was only a block and a half away from our apartment, with cheap prices and awesome food. We ate here often. Melissa, our normal waitress greeted us. "Hey guys! You can get your booth," she said, as we walked inside. She was grabbing her coat and jacket, heading out before the dinner shift started.

We headed to our normal booth, sitting down.

I started to sit down next to Rosalie and she shook her head, giving me a pointed look at the table across from her.

I rolled my eyes, making a huffy noise at her. "You owe me so much," I muttered again, sliding into the seat across from her.

"Don't look so miserable," she suggested, studying my expression.

"I am miserable! This is going to be a disaster."

"Don't be so negative! It's only one night, you probably won't have to ever see Edward Cullen after this."

"Yeah, unless you and Emmett get married or something."

She rolled her eyes. "You're getting very far ahead of yourself. Just relax."

"Easy for you to say," I muttered, and this time she just smiled obligingly, a smile you'd give a child who didn't want to go to school or something.

I shot her another dark look and then stared at my hands. I was _nervous. _I bounced my leg up and down, something I always did when I was anxious. I played with my hair, trying to give my hands something to do, something else to focus on besides the fact that Edward and Emmett would be here any minute.

Rosalie looked perfectly at ease, studying her perfect red nails. Shouldn't she be the nervous one? She'd been dreaming of this day since she'd met Emmett.

The bell on the door rang, and both of us looked up at the same moment, to see Emmett walking towards, Edward behind him.

_I should have stayed home. _I caught a glimpse of Edward's face. Ugh, why did he have to be so gorgeous? Maybe this wouldn't be quite so hard if he wasn't.

They walked over to us, Emmett sitting down next to Rosalie, grinning at her.

Edward sat down next to me, allowing himself one glance in my direction before staring away.

Neither of us said hello.

The waitress came over to take our drink orders, handed us the menus and disappeared into the kitchen again.

I flipped through the menu, even though I already knew what I would order.

"Do you guys eat here often?" Emmett asked.

Rosalie smiled. "Yeah, we do. We practically live here, actually."

I nodded in agreement.

"Then you guy's will know what to order. What's good?" he went on.

"Everything!" We said at the same time, and then laughed.

Emmett looked amused, and I refused to look in Edward's direction to see his reaction.

The waitress came back after a minute, handing out our sodas, and pulling out her notepad for our orders.

Rosalie and Emmett ordered, and then she turned to Edward and I.

"Cheeseburger," we answered at the same time.

Edward and I met eyes for a minute, and again I was taken in by their stunning shade of green. _Could they be any greener... _

And then I looked away with a blush.

"So, have you guys ever eaten here?" Rosalie asked, probably to soothe over the awkward silence that had surrounded us.

Emmett shook his head.

"No, we usually eat at...well...more well known places," Edward answered with a shrug.

I raised an eyebrow. Was he _trying _to prove my point?

"Of course," I murmured. _Dammit! Why did I say that? What WAS wrong with me?_

Rosalie shot me a surprised look.

Edward turned to look at me sharply. "You know, Bella, you can tell me things to my face, you don't need to go muttering-"

"I have nothing to say to you!" I really needed to stop talking.

"Obviously that's not the case."

He seemed so calm, and spoke with such an ease...

"I guess you'd know, since you know everything and-" I blurted out.

"Bella!" Rosalie cut me off, her voice hard and cold. She was scolding me.

"Sorry Mom," I muttered sarcastically, even though I was glad she had stopped me. Really, why I was being so horrible around him? What was it about him that made me act like this? It was so unlike me.

She put a hand against her forehead, like she had a headache, and I felt bad. I knew this date meant a lot to her, I needed to stop acting like this.

I didn't apologize or anything, just grabbed my soda, taking a long drink so my mouth would be busy before something else slipped out.

Edward said nothing either, just ran a hand through his bronze hair and reached for his own soda.

Emmett asked Rosalie about her job and she launched into the conversation happily. She loved talking about her job.

She was talking when our food arrived, and she laughed at herself. "I'm so sorry. I've been rambling, it must be boring you," she apologized.

Emmett's smile was best described as _adoring. _"It's not," he promised.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. I was happy for Rosalie.  
I reached for my hamburger, chewing slowly. I was trying very hard to avoid looking at Edward. Who knew what I would say next.

He had taken a few bites of his food before looking at me and raising an eyebrow.

"Pardon me, I need to speak to Bella alone," Edward murmured politely to Rosalie and Emmett. It didn't escape my notice that he didn't ask for _my _permission. He grabbed my arm, towing me away from the table, to an empty corner of the diner. As soon he came to a standstill I jerked my arm away from him.

"What do you want?"

He smirked. "Well as delightful as this evening has been, I think we are annoying my brother, and your friend. They seem to like each quite a lot, so I think it's our best interests-because Emmett could crush me like a twig, and your Rosalie looks like she could hold _quite _a grudge-if we stop this, and at least pretend to get along. For their sakes."

I sighed. He was right. Boy, was he right. And I hated admitting that to myself. "All right."

There was silence for a moment.

"I suppose I should apologize. Tonight would have been much better if I had apologized for last night first thing. I behaved very rudely, and I'm sorry about that."

That took me off guard. I tilted to my head to the side, "No, don't apologize. It's my fault. I'm sorry, I don't know why I've been acting like this. It really is very unlike me. And you're right, I need to get to know a person before I judge them."

He smiled. He looked being told he was right. "I agree, but you were right as well, I haven't given you anything to change your opinion, and I apologize again."

Another moment of silence.

"Shall we start over?" he suggested.

I raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged. _Why not? _"Sure."

He grinned, and stuck his hand out to me. "Nice to meet you, I'm Edward Cullen."

Oh my gosh, he wasn't doing this. What, were we stuck in a corny movie or something? "Bella Swan. Nice to meet you too," I shook his hand. And what am I doing? Playing along with it?

"Can I interest you in dinner, Ms. Swan?"

I snorted. "That depends, do you usually ask woman you just met out to dinner?"

He flashed a grin that made me go weak at the knees. "Always."

_Oh, please. _I smiled back. "Well in that case..."

He chuckled and lead the way back to the table, letting me slide into the booth first, then sitting beside me.

Rosalie and Emmett looked at us expectantly, and I could tell that Rose was dying for details, and what we had said that had stopped the death glares.

"So, uh, where are you guys from?" Emmett asked after a minute. Neither Edward nor I had had an outburst, so he probably figured it was safe to start up a civil conversation.

"A small town outside of the City. A _very _small town," Rosalie answered with a smile.

He smiled back. "One of those 'I've never heard of it, never been there and should have no desire to ever go there?' type small towns?" he teased.

We both laughed. "Exactly," she agreed.

"And you are from there too, Bella?" Edward asked in a polite tone.

I nodded. "We were neighbors."

"What does your family do?" he asked.

I shrugged. "My dad is the police chief."

"And your mother?"

I felt that familiar pang in my chest, but ignored it. "She died when I was a small child."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he sounded sincere.

I nodded tightly. "So I stayed with Rosalie's family when my father wasn't around-which was most of the time."

Rosalie smiled at me. "Yep. We couldn't get rid of her, no matter what we tried," she teased.

I laughed. "Exactly," I agreed.

Edward smiled, looking amused. "What made you decide to move to the City?" He went on with his questioning.

I shrugged and glanced at Rosalie.

"I don't know...I've always dreamed of living in the city, especially New York City...and when I graduated college I knew I wouldn't get a good job there, not in our small little town. So where better to look than the city? It was a risk, of course. But it worked out well. For both of us," she answered, smiling at me.

I smiled back.

Neither of us had to ask the Cullen's any questions. We already knew this stuff about them, if they had always lived here, where they were from, what their parents did, etc.

We finished our dinners mostly in silence, aside from a few questions here and there. Rosalie and I started to pay for dinner, or at least, our half, but Emmett grabbed the check and refused to let us pay, smiling. Edward left the tip on the table, and I caught a glimpse of the bill as I slide out of the booth. It was a twenty.

Emmett paid, and the four of us walked to the movie theater. Rosalie and Emmett walked ahead of us. I hung back a bit on purpose, wanting to give them some time to talk and get to know each other better. Edward hung back as well, falling in step beside me.

"I like your articles," he said suddenly.

"Hm?" I asked, looking up at him.

He smiled lightly. "In the paper. I like your articles. They are interesting....very well written."

I couldn't help but smile at that. My work was very important to me. "I thought you hadn't seen anything by me?" I teased.

He grinned, and it looks like he was blushing a bit. "I looked for your name, actually. Isabella Marie."

"Really?" I murmured. I couldn't help but be surprised. Even if he had known he would be seeing me tonight, I found it...surprising that he would go look for my work purposely, after the way I had acted.

He shrugged, looking embarrassed.

We got the movie theater-it was only two blocks away-and bought our tickets and popcorn. We sat near the back of the theater, settling in to watch some romantic flick. I wished we had picked a comedy or something, since this wasn't really a _date _for all of us, but Rosalie had wanted to see, and Emmett had agreed. They were sitting together, and I was sitting on Rosalie's other side, Edward next to me.

The lights went down and the previews started, and eventually the movie. It wasn't a very good movie, the usual love boy meets girl, falls in love, has a fight, says they are sorry, gets back together, lives happily ever after type, and the acting left a lot to be desired. It was hard to focus on the movie, and I realized after a while that it was Edward that was making it so hard to pay attention. He was sitting so close to me that our knees touched, and when I started to put my arm down on the armrest, it had touched his. It had felt an electric shock going through us, and we'd both looked over at each other in surprise. I pulled away quickly, blushing as I turned back to the movie.

Every so often I couldn't help myself and I'd look over at him and our eyes would meet, and I'd look away again. What was wrong with me? Was it because I was in a theater, and with Rosalie and Emmett snuggled against each other, did I just want that too? It couldn't be Edward himself, of course. I didn't like him, after all. And he definitely didn't like me.

---  
EPOV.

I felt strangely happy as the movie ended and the four of us stood up, stretching our arms and legs which had fallen asleep during the two hour movie. Rosalie and Emmett were all smiles, and when I glanced at Bella, she was smiling too.

The movie had been all right. It was a typical chick flick with an uninteresting and predictable plot and so-so actors. Maybe it would have been easier to pay attention and get into, if I hadn't been sitting next to Bella. It was hard to ignore her. When she'd move a bit or she'd ruffle her hair and I caught a whiff of her strawberry scent, or when she'd smile at something in the movie. And when she'd put her arm down on the armrest between us and our skin had touched. It felt like a shock right through me, and it caught me off guard. We had met each others eyes, staring at for a minute, and then she'd turned away. After that it had been impossible to pay attention.

The night hadn't been as bad as I had expected. Emmett had practically had to drag me out of the house-with a few threats-and I'd been absolutely dreading it when we walked into the diner. It was a small place that we normally would have passed over, but it had a nice feel to it and good food. Rosalie and Bella had been waiting for us in a booth. Bella looked upset, and I suspected that she hadn't been happier about this than I had.

The beginning of the date had been rocky, to say the least. When Rosalie had scolded her, and she'd turned away from me, I bit my lip not to say anything else. Rosalie and Emmett drifted into a comfortable and light conversation, but it wasn't hard to tell that Bella was purposely ignoring me, as I was her. And I couldn't take it. It was completely irrational, of course, but despite everything she had said, I wanted to get to know her better, I wanted to change her opinion of me, and I had been struck with determination to do just that. Our food had just arrived, but I grabbed her arm anyway, muttering to the others that I needed to talk to Bella for a minute alone. She'd looked unhappy at first, but when I had apologized she'd flushed bright red and apologized as well, looking embarrassed.

"Can we start over?" I had asked, and I really hoped we could. She had agreed and we'd gone back to the table. Now that we had apologized and moved on, conversation with her was quite easy. It felt natural. And she looked gorgeous tonight, just as beautiful in jeans and converse as she was in a dress and heels. And when she _smiled..._

"Ready to go?" Emmett asked Rosalie, his hand intertwined with hers.

The four of us headed out of the theater, into the crisp night. Emmett and Rosalie walked ahead of us, while Bella and I hung back again, to let them talk.

"I think they really like each other," Bella murmured. She sounded genuinely happy for her best friend.

"I think so too," I agreed, and I was happy for my brother as well. Rosalie was a nice girl, and he seemed to really like her. Taking her out for a quiet date like this showed that he was serious and didn't want to lose her.

She smiled, shoving her hands into her coat pockets.

We stopped in front of their apartment building, Rosalie and Emmett still saying goodbye. I turned to smile at Bella. "I had a nice time...and it was nice to meet you," I teased.

She smiled. "Yeah, you too. And I'm sorry, again," she murmured. "I don't know why...well, I promise I'm not like that..."

No, I didn't think she was. "It's fine."

She blushed.

"Uh, Bella..." I wanted to see her again, I wanted to spend more time with her. "Could I, uh, have your number? I mean, just in case I need something for the paper or...something," I scrambled lamely.

She raised a eyebrow, looking amused at my awkwardness. She shifted her weight to her other foot, debating. I couldn't really expect her to give it to me, even if we had agreed to more or less forget the past and start over, who was to say she actually liked me now.

"Uh, sure," she finally agreed, opening her purse. She pulled out a pen and walked over to me, picking up my hand. I felt that electric jolt again and I smiled down at her. I loved the feel of her warm, soft skin brushing against mine, she scribbled her number onto the palm of my hand. "There," she murmured when she finished, letting go of my hand and replacing the cap on her pen.

I smiled. "Goodnight, Bella."

She smiled back. "Goodnight."

--------

**A/N: Hope you guys liked it! But don't worry, the dramas not over for our favorite couple. Their getting along better, but it won't be smooth sailing just yet.  
I will hopefully have the next chapter up in a few days.  
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and favorited my story/me, it means a ton.  
And as usual, reviews are love.**


	5. Confusion

**A/N: Sorry it's been a few days since the last update. You'd think having an ice storm and being stuck in the house for three [going on four! -.-] days stuck in the house would make me want to write, but not really.  
**

**So here's chapter five. It's a bit short, just their feelings after the date, but I thought it was necessary before moving on. I have the next chapter nearly finished, so that should be out in a day or two.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. 

Chapter Five.

BPOV.

"You gave him your number?" Rosalie asked, surprised. It was well past midnight, but there was too much talk about to go to bed yet. So instead we were sitting in the living room, eating chocolate ice cream, while we ignored the chick flick playing on our TV.

Rosalie had spent a long time gushing over Emmett, how sweet he was, how handsome, what he had said to her, how he'd put his arm around her in the movie, and how he'd asked if they could go out next Friday too. And he'd given her a quick sweet kiss goodnight. I chimed in with how Edward had agreed that Emmett liked her a lot, and she'd looked about to burst of happiness.

Of course it was only a matter of time before the subject shifted to Edward and I. She had demanded details, and had scolded me again for the beginning for dinner. "What were you thinking?" she had asked, rolling her eyes. I shrugged and replied honestly. "I have no idea. I don't think I am thinking around him, that's the problem."

I blushed when she asked about me giving him my number. I remembered how he'd stuttered over asking me. I honestly hadn't been sure what to say. I had been completely caught off guard. I hadn't expected to ever really see him again after tonight. We would part on friendly terms and that would be the end of it.

But this...what did this mean? That he liked me? That couldn't be it. He was gorgeous and rich and could have any girl he wanted. I couldn't be what he wanted. But why else would he ask for my number? I shook my head, confused. My life had been considerably easier before I had met Edward Cullen.  
"You must like him, right? You don't just give out your number, Bella," Rosalie pressed.

"I don't know!" I admitted. "He's gorgeous, of course. But I don't know... I don't know why I gave him my number," I shook my head. "He probably won't even call." I was torn. Part of me was dying for him to call, and the other part of me wished he wouldn't, and I could move on and things would go back to normal.

Rosalie shrugged. "I think he does like you, Bella. Once you guys got things straightened out, he stared at you nearly the whole evening, and he looked so happy when you gave him your number."

"He doesn't like me," I protested.

"How do you know, did he say that or something?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, but why would he? He's..._Edward Cullen _and I'm...and I said all those things to him. Even if we straightened it out, I was still such a jerk."

She made a face at me. "You will never see things clearly."

Childishly, I stuck my tongue out at her. "Yeah, whatever. I'm going to bed," I said, standing up and heading down the hall. That was enough girl talk for one night.

"I bet he calls you tomorrow!" she called after me.

I rolled my eyes again and shut the door to my room behind me. Yeah, whatever.

----  
EPOV.

"So, are you going to call Bella?" Emmett asked, as I parked my silver Volvo in the garage and shut it off.

I got out of the car and shrugged. "I don't know."

"Why'd you ask for her number if you don't know?" he questioned.

I shot him annoyed look, locking my car and shoving the keys into my pocket. "It's complicated."

And it was. So freaking complicated. I had to admit that I was extremely attracted to Bella. But it was more than that. I liked the way she smiled, I liked the way she said my name. I liked the way she had teased me, playing along with our 'starting over' game, I liked her writing. I just plain liked Bella. And I wanted to get to know her more, I wanted to see her again. But I didn't know what to do. I was sure she didn't like me. She had made that quite clear in the beginning, and I didn't see how now could be any different. Maybe I'd changed her opinion of me, maybe she'd had a nice time. Maybe she was even a little attracted to me. But did she like me like I liked her? I was sure she didn't. Okay, so she had given me her number. But she had hesitated, unsure of herself and whether she should or not.

Who knows, maybe she even gave me a fake number.

"What's complicated about it?" Emmett asked, rolling his eyes. "You asked for her number and she gave it to you. That means you have the okay to call her. She'll probably be expecting a call, actually."

"I don't think Bella likes me like that," I said, annoyed that he didn't understand it all.

"You are so out of it. If she didn't like you, she wouldn't have given you the number," he shrugged, as if it was just that simple.

And maybe it was. What would I say to her though? And what if she said no?

Emmett opened the door to the house, and we walked in, locking it behind us. The house was dark and quiet, everyone had already gone to bed. After we had dropped Bella and Rosalie off at their apartment building we had stopped to get a drink. Emmett spent the entire time talking about Rosalie. Emmett dated a lot of girls, and none of his relationships lasted long, but things seemed different with Rosalie. And she was a nice girl, so I hoped that he was different, and that things would work out for them.

"What was with you and Bella when we first got to dinner?" Emmett asked me suddenly, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge to look for something to eat.

I sat down in one of the chairs in the kitchen and shrugged. "I don't know. That's what I mean, Em, I don't think Bella likes me."

"I think she does. Maybe she's trying to convince herself she doesn't, and that's why she acts that way with you."

I looked up at him in surprise. "What do you mean, why wouldn't she want to like me?" That sounded conceited. I frowned.

Emmett shrugged. "Who knows, bro. Maybe she's afraid she'll start to like you, and you won't like her back." He shrugged.

Well...that made sense, I guess. I dragged a hand through my hair. It was too late and I was too tired to have to think about all this. "I'm going to bed," I stood up.

"So are you going to call her?" he asked me again, as I headed towards the stairs.

I shrugged. "I don't know. We'll see."

**------**

**I'm not all that happy with this chapter...but I hope you guys liked it. The next one will be better, and will be out in a day or two.  
As always ... reviews are love. And thanks to everyone who was favorited/alerted/read my story. :]**


	6. Phone Calls

Okay so...well I'm still stuck inside from the ice storm! Oh, the joys of living in the middle of no where on a road that doesn't get plowed. I have been out of school all week though, so that's been nice.

Anyway! Chapter 6. Time for some Bella and Edward fluff. I'm pretty happy with this chapter. I think there relationship progressed a little here. :]

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Six.

BPOV.

I stared at the white notebook paper laying on the floor in front of me. I was laying on my stomach, on the floor, in my bedroom. I tapped my pencil against the floor, humming along to the radio.

_What to write... _I thought, as I continued to stare at the paper. I had been laying here for about an hour, and I had written three sentences, two of which I had crossed out after rereading them.

Writers block wouldn't be so bad...if I hadn't been having it for the past six months. Writing my articles came easy, but this-an actual book-nothing.

"I need ideas!" I muttered aloud, setting my pencil down and rolling over to my back and shutting my eyes, as if that would make an idea come to me.

It didn't, of course. Instead I heard another song intertwining with the music playing on my radio. My phone.

I jumped up to my feet and looked around for my purse. It was laying on the floor, near my jacket. I pulled it out, flipping it open. "Hello," I said, grateful for a distraction.

"Hello...Bella?" It took me a moment to recognize the voice and then I gasped.

"Yes. Oh! Edward?" I asked. My heart started pounding in my chest when I realized who it was.

There was a light chuckle on the other end. It sounded...nervous? "Yes. Hey."

I sat on my bed. "Hey, what's up?" My mind was racing. He had called me. Sure it had been four days since the date, but he had called me. I couldn't wait to tell Rose...

"Not much..." He cleared his throat. "Actually, Bella, I was wondering if you were busy right now?"

I glanced at the notebook laying open and blank on the floor. "Uh, no, I'm not," I told him. My heart pounded harder as I waited for him to speak again. Why I was getting so flustered?

There was a quick pause. "I was wondering then...would you like to grab lunch or coffee or something with me?"

"Like a date?" The words slipped through my mouth before I gave them permission. I wasn't sure if my voice came across as happy or uncertain.

"Er, it doesn't have to be. We can just go as friends, or something," he said quickly. "Or we don't have to go at all..." he added.

"No, no, it sounds good. Where do you want to meet?" The break would be great, and I was excited to see him again...

"I'm actually heading into the city, I can pick you up and we can walk? Maybe to that diner we ate at?" He suggested.

I smiled. "That sounds nice."

"I'll be there in 10 minutes?"

"Okay. I'll see you then. Oh, my apartment number is 594."

"Okay, see you," his sweet voice promised, and then he hung up.

I snapped my phone shut and set it down on the bed. "Rosalie!" I squealed.

I heard her footsteps as she walked across the hall. "Bella? What's wrong?" she asked, opening my door in coming into my room. Her expression suggested that she expected me to have a broken arm or something.

"Guess who just called me," I said, ignoring her question.

She stared at me for a minute, and then her face lit up. "Oh my gosh, Edward?!"

I nodded. "He just called...and asked if I wanted to get lunch with him. He's picking me up in ten minutes."

I was pretty excited, but I think Rosalie was even more excited. "Oh my gosh!" she repeated. "I can't believe it... I knew he liked you! Come on, we have to find you something cute to wear." She walked over to my closet. "Oh, and we only have ten minutes..."

"It's just lunch," I reminded her, worried about what I might end up wearing.

She rolled her eyes. "I know, and it doesn't matter. You still have to look good." She pulled out my favorite jeans and a blue silky shirt that was dressier than what I normally wore. "It's perfect," she said, holding them out to me. "Go change. And hurry, I still have to do your makeup and do something with your hair..."

I rolled my eyes at her, and changed into the clothes she gave me. Rosalie pulled my hair back from my face, and put on a little bit of makeup. She finished just as we heard a knock on the door.

"That's Edward," Rosalie said, her eyes running over me skeptically. "Well, you look pretty good, considering I had to do it all within-"

"Rose, I think one of us should get the door." I interrupted, hearing another knock.

"Right," she agreed. "I'll get it."

I waited a minute, until I heard her opening the door and greeting Edward, before I walked into the living room. He turned to look at me as I came to the door, and he smiled.

"Hello, Bella," he said.

"Hi, Edward."

He smiled. "Ready to go?"

I nodded, reaching for my jacket. "See you later, Rose."

She grinned-looking excited because she had known that he would call-and winked at me as she shut the door behind us.

Edward and I headed out of the building and in the direction of the diner. It was a nice day...sunny, bright. Warm.

"I'm surprised you weren't working today," he commented, glancing over at me.

"Day off," I smiled. "I'm glad you called, actually. I needed a break," I admitted.

He smiled. "A break from?"

"Writing."

"Writing?" he raised an eyebrow. "When you have a day off you do more work?"

I laughed lightly. "No. I'm actually working on a...novel," I admitted, blushing. I rarely told people that I wanted to be more than just a journalist. I wanted to write a real book and have it published.

"Oh," he said. "That's great, Bella. I'm sure your book is great." He sounded confident.

I continued to blush. "Well, it might be. If I could ever figure out what to write. I haven't written more than maybe ten pages in the last few months. Writers block. I'm starting to think it's permanent." I was surprised I was telling him all this. Rosalie was the only other person that knew.

We got to the diner than, and Edward opened the door for me. The same waitress who had served us on our date greeted us, nodding to a table for two near under a window. We sat down and she took our drink orders before disappearing to the kitchen.

"I'm sure writers block isn't permanent," he said, bringing up my earlier words and smiling gently. "You just need the right plot, yes?"

I shrugged. "That would help. I need something original...and exciting. And good strong characters. The combination is proving very hard."

"You'll get it," he said with certainty.

I shrugged, blushing. "I hope so," I murmured.

He smiled.

"So...why aren't you work? Aren't you a busy up and coming lawyer, Mr. Cullen?" I asked, smirking a bit.

He smirked back. "So they tell me. I actually have been working all morning...I needed to get a away for a bit though."

I nodded, understandingly.

We kept the conversation light, with some friendly banter until our food came. We ate in silence for a few minuts before Edward asked "Tell me more about you, Bella."

I blushed, uncomfortable. "I don't really like talking about myself," I told him honestly. "And there's not much to tell, anyway. My life is very...normal. Boring."

He smiled. "I want to hear it anyway," he assured me.

I sighed, swirling one of my french fires around in ketchup. "Well you know most of it, really. I was born in a small town...and my mother died when I was three. A car accident... A drunk driver hit her," I paused, frowning. I didn't remember anything about it though, I only knew what my father and others had told me.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Edward said, his voice sincere.

"Thank you," I murmured politely. "But...it was okay. My Father, Charlie, is great. I mean he's always been really busy with his work, being police chief and all, but we are... a lot alike. We don't talk much, and we are very comfortable with silence. He did what he could to take care of me. I think he always felt bad though, that I didn't have a mother. I don't feel like I missed a whole lot, though, really. I always had Emily-Rosalie's mother-and the rest of the Hale's."

He smiled at me the entire time I talked, his eyes on my face, watching me. He looked....interested, strangely enough.

"Tell me everything else," he prompted. "About you're school...and you're friends, and...everything."

I raised an eyebrow at all his questions. _Why does he want to know? _But smiled and went on talking. I described my small school, and my favorite classes and teachers. I talked about my other friends there, and what they were doing now that we were all 'grown up.' I talked about Rosalie and her brother, Jasper. When I had gone over everything, I realized that we had both finished our lunch some time again. And to my surprise Edward was still watching me with just as much interest on his face as he had when I'd started.

I blushed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to talk so much. You must be bored."

He shook his head, smiling. "No, not at all."

I smiled. "Well I told you everything. Now it's your turn."

"I don't imagine there's much you don't already know, really. There's Emmett, of course. And I have a sister, Alice. My father's a doctor...and my mother is a designer. And we've lived in the city all my life."

I knew there was so much more about him, but he didn't seem to want to talk about it, and I didn't want to ask him and look like I was prying. I guess if you were in the public eye as much as Edward and the rest of his family was, you probably didn't want to talk about private things with someone who was practically a total stranger.

"Do you have to go back to work?" I asked, instead.

He shook his head. "Nope, I have the rest of the afternoon off."

I smiled and glanced out the window, playing with a lock of my hair absently.

"Want to go for a walk?" he offered.

I bit my lip, thinking it over. Oh, who was I kidding, this was a date-no matter what Edward said-and I had already agreed to it. And I was having a good time with him. I smiled. "Sounds good."

---  
EPOV.

I had made no plans to call Bella, today. Or to ask her out to lunch. Ever since the date I had dialed her number into my phone so many times that I knew them by heart, but I had always chickened out and hit 'end'. Today, after getting off of work, I had gotten in my Volvo, heading into the city to get something to eat, debating whether or not to call Bella. It had been a few days, she was probably starting to give on me ever calling. If I wanted to make a move, I needed to do it now. So I had finally hit 'send' that time, telling myself that if she said no...well, at least I'd know and not have to wonder about 'what ifs' anymore. And if she said yes...that's what I wanted, wasn't it?

To my surprise she'd been at home when I'd called, and agreed to go to lunch with me. She had sounded unsure about it being a date, but she had still agreed. All good signs.

Right now I was extremely glad that I had finally made the call. Bella had looked as stunning as usual when I'd knocked on their door. We had talked more...seriously, than before. She talked about how she wanted to be an author, and her family and friends, and her childhood. By the end of lunch she had described her town and her high school, and was talking about her college. I had listened intently, wanting to learn as much about her as I could. I loved the way she smiled when she recalled certain memories, and the way she played with her hair-without even realizing she was doing it.

Finally she'd blushed and apologized for talking so long. We had both been done with lunch for a while, and I knew that I should walk her back to her apartment and head back to work and see if there was anything that needed to be done. I wasn't ready to let her go yet, though.

"Want to go for a walk?" I had offered, and she had agreed. I payed for lunch, which she let me do after only a few minutes of disagreement. She had insisted on at least paying for the tip.

As we headed back into the warm sunny day, I was really tempted to reach out and take her hand, but I couldn't be sure about how Bella felt towards me, and I didn't want to press my luck.

She chuckled, suddenly. "You haven't asked you know. If I was dating someone or not?" She appeared to be teasing.

I smiled. "No, I guess haven't. Well, if you are, I suppose your boyfriend will be pretty upset with me."

She laughed lightly. Her laugh was beautiful. "Yes, I suppose he will be," she said, looking serious. I stared at her for a moment, hoping she was joking. She caught a glimpse of my expression and a grinned. "Kidding."

"Good," I smiled back.

"What about you?" she asked, looking back at the sidewalk in front of us.

"No, I'm single."

"Hm...what about that girl you were dancing with? At your party." She bit her lip, still looking away. The blood flooded to her cheeks.

I couldn't help but smile, just a bit. "Tanya? No. We're just...friends. Our parents would like us to date, but that's all it is."

She seemed to brighten again, her cheeks still red.

"I'm surprised you had to ask," I countered. "Anytime I'm seen with a woman everyone assumes that we're dating and it's headline news. I'm surprised I haven't seen us on anything yet," I added.

Bella smiled. "Well, it is useful to have a best friend that does the gossip column."

"It is," I agreed. "She's all Emmett's been talking about lately, by the way."

Her smile widened, and she looked excited. "Really? That's...awesome. Rosalie...well, she really likes him. She's afraid he's not interested though."

"Oh, he is," I assured her. "He's looking forward to their date this weekend."

"So is Rose."

We both smiled at each other, and then fell back into silence. It was comfortable silence, not awkward at all, like it was with so many other girls. I ran my hand through my hair, trying to decide what to say. I wanted to let her know that I liked her, that I wanted to be around her, without coming on to strong. And I wasn't sure how to do it.

I'd never had this problem before. I'd dated a lot of girls. Never for more than a few weeks. My longest relationship had lasted two months before crashing to an end. It wasn't that I got bored, or that I considered myself a player...I just never really felt sparks with anyone before, and thought it was best to end things before it go too far. There was almost the problem of knowing when people were being true. A lot of girls wanted to date me because I was wealthy, and a Cullen. So many gold diggers, so many wannabes. I had been close to giving up on the whole dating thing a few months ago.

That was one thing I liked about Bella. I knew she wasn't out to get anything, she didn't want money, or to be in the limelight, or fifteen minutes of fame. If anything happened between us...it would be because she liked me, not because of my name and money.

And I was going to say something, I needed to do it now. We were getting closer to apartment, and our walk being over.

"Er, Bella? Can I ask you something?"

She looked over at me, her brown eyes questioning. "Sure. What is it?"

"Well...can I see you again? Like a real date?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Really? Oh, uh, sure," she paused before adding. "I'd like that, Edward."

I smiled, my heart pounding in my chest. "I'll call you later, then. To arrange the details."

She smiled back. "Sounds good."

We stopped in front of her apartment building, turning to face each other.

"I had a nice time. Thanks, Edward," Bella said, smiling up at me.

I stared down at her. I wanted to touch her, I wanted to pull her close to me and kiss her. I couldn't do any of that though. "I did too, Bella." I reached out and brushed her hair out of her face, running my fingers gently down her cheek before pulling my hand back. Her skin was soft and warm and...perfect under my fingers.

"I'll see you later," she said, sounding breathless.

"Yes," I agreed. "I'll call you."

She smiled at me, turning to walk into her building.

I watched her until she disappeared from sight, and I headed back to my car in a daze.

* * *

A/N: So I felt like I needed to add that Bella doesn't not like Edward, she's just sure that he would never be interested in her that she hasn't been letting herself start to like him, because she doesn't want to get hurt. Now that he's called and given her some encouragement...well who knows. XD

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it. :]

Reviews are love!


	7. Dreaming Out Loud

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So, sorry it's been a few days. Now that the ice is almost all melted, I've been busy.  
I also wrote out a few chapters of this. :]

And if your curious...the music I listened to when I wrote this chapters was Beautiful World by Dierks Bentley and Dreaming Out Loud by OneRepublic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Seven.  
BPOV.

Edward called me the next day to set up our date. We would go out Sunday, to a 'nice' restaurant, as he had put it. I was a little afraid of what his denfetion of a nice resturant was, but I agreed to it anyway, and I found myself looking forward throughout the week. Now that I was getting to know Edward better... I was starting to really like him. He wasn't what I expected at all... and for some reason I didn't understand, he seemed to like me too.

Rosalie was just as excited about this as I was, if not more.

"This is awesome," she practically squealed when I hung up the phone with Edward and told her what he had said. "I knew he liked you!"

"Sure you did," I grinned, setting my phone down on the coffee table and standing up. "I'm gonna make some cookies or something."

"Oh, chocolate chip?" She followed me into the kitchen.

"All right," I agreed, grabbing the ingredients out of the cupboards.

Rosalie sat down on the counter top and watched me. I didn't bother to ask for her help, and she didn't offer it; we both knew she couldn't cook or bake.

"Where is he taking you?"

I set a bowl down on the counter and started measuring out the flour and sugar, as I listed off the name of the restaurant.

Her blue eyes lit up as she recognized the name. "Really? Bella, that place is so nice! And romantic. And he's taking you there!" she gushed.

"How nice?" I asked dryly. Yep, just like I'd thought. My 'nice' did mean the same as Edward's did.

She grinned at my wary expression. "Like extremely nice. You'll have to get a new dress. The only one you have that is nice enough is the one you wore to that party, and you can't wear it again, so we'll have to go shopping. I saw this dress in this store on the way to work that would be perfect for you!"

I started stirring together all the ingredients in the bowl, glancing over at Rose. I guess I probably should have seen the shopping trip coming.

"And this is great, because I'm going out with Emmett on Saturday, and I want to get something new to wear too. We can go Friday since we can leave work early," she went on.

"Sounds great," I said, no enthusiasm in my voice.

She laughed at me and reached over to steal a few of the chocolate chips I was about to pour into the batter.

"Do you like him, Bella?" she asked me suddenly.

I looked up at her in surprise. "What?"

"Edward. Do you like him?"

I blushed. "Yeah, I do."

She smiled. "I'm happy for you, then." She jumped down from the counter and squeezed my shoulders. "You and Edward will make an adorable couple."

I continued to blush. "It's just one date Rose, we aren't a couple."

"Oh, give it time," she said confidently.

I smiled, hoping that she was right. I stirred the cookie batter more. "How are you and Emmett doing?"

"Great. I really like him, Bella. I think that he might be the one."

I looked up at her in surprise. "The one?" That was...wow, sudden. Sure she had known Emmett for a while, but she had only been out with him twice.

She nodded, and blushed-something she rarely did. "I know it's really fast. But I don't know...I just _know. _I can feel it. And I kind of think that Emmett feels it too."

"That's great, Rose. Really." I smiled at her. I wanted to see my best friend happy, and I really hoped that Emmett was the one for her, too.

----

EPOV.

"You did it, you asked Bella out," Emmett looked strangely smug as I snapped my phone shut and set it down on my desk, next to stack of paperwork that I needed to work on.

I was enjoying my work, and I had just gotten assigned my first real case today. I had only glanced over it so far, but I was extremely excited about this. I couldn't wait to start this case.

"Yes, I did," I agreed, watching as Emmett sat down in one of the wooden chairs on the other side of my desk.

Our lunch earlier this week is what had given me the confidence to call Bella and ask her out on a real date. It seemed like she liked me a lot, now that we were getting to know each other more, and I definitely liked her a lot.

"Good for you," Emmett said. "And you are taking her out to La Bella Italia? Nice," he approved.

I was a bit unsure about that choice. It was a very nice restaurant, one I usually took people when I was trying to make an impression, and I wasn't sure what Bella would think of it, or if she'd think it was too much, too soon.

"Where are you taking Rosalie?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know yet. We are going to a club-to go dancing-and I'll probably let her pick a place on the way there."

"Who are you guys taking about?" A chirpy voice asked from the doorway. We both looked up and saw Alice standing there. She was wearing a light yellow dress, her dark hair spiked up as usual.

"Hi, Ali," I said, ignoring her question.

She came over and sat in the chair beside Emmett. "Hi. Who were you guys talking about?" she pressed again.

I loved my pixie-like younger sister, but she could be really nosy.

"He was talking about Rosalie." I blurted out.

She turned to look at Emmett. "Rosalie....Rosalie Hale? The reporter?" Her violet colored eyes lit up. "You finally asked her out?"

He rolled his eyes at me, and nodded. "Yeah, Rosalie Hale."

"Wow, that's great. I was wondering when you'd finally get around to it, you've obviously liked her for a while. Where are you taking her?"

"A club. She wants to go dancing."

"What are you going to wear? Hm, I wonder what color she is wearing? I don't suppose that I could call and ask her, since I don't really know her very well. It would be so great if you matched her though..." she trailed off, gathering her thoughts.

Emmett and I exchanged looks. We knew the look on Alice's face. It was her I'm-getting-carried-away face. This was one reason why we didn't announce our dates to the entire family.

"If you talk to her again before the date, you'll ask her, right?" she practically begged Emmett, giving him that puppy dog face we both knew so well.

"Uh, sure, Ali," he gave in right away.

She grinned at him, then turned to look at me, pursing her lips. "Now if we could just find you someone, Edward..."

Emmett grinned. "Oh, don't worry about him, Edward."

"What do you mean?" she demanded.

"Thanks a lot, Em." I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, you told her about Rose," he retorted.

Alice ignored our exchange, still waiting for one of us to answer her question. "I need details."

"It's Bella Swan," Emmett offered.

She forehead wrinkled as she tried to place the name. "Who? I don't think I know a Bella."

"You probably don't know," I cut in quickly. "She's a reporter too. She does front page sort of stuff. She works at the same newspaper as Rosalie. They are best friends."

"Oh, so Rosalie introduced you guys?" She asked. Of course she would have to know everything.

I shrugged. "Sort of. She came to the party, with Rosalie. I met her there, and then when Rosalie and Emmett went out last week, they dragged," I grinned at Emmett, "us along with them. We went to lunch a few days ago, and I'm talking to Italia on Sunday."

She squealed. "That's great! Oh, Edward, it sounds like you really like her. That's so awesome. I bet she's great. When do I get to met her?"

I winced at her high pitched squeal. "Er, I don't know, Alice. It'll just depend on how things go."

"Well if it goes well-which it will, I can feel it-you'd better bring her over for dinner soon. I want to meet her, and I'm sure that Mom and Dad would love to too. Oh, and Emmett, same with you. They've already met Rosalie, of course, but-"

"Sure, Alice," he agreed.

She grinned and looked at me, waiting.

"Yeah, sure," I mumbled. "Now if you don't mind, I actually have work to do." I looked pointedly at the papers on my desk.

Emmett stood up. "Yeah, same. See you later, Al."

"Bye Em," she said. "I'm meeting with a designer in a little while, so I'd better go too. Bye Edward."

"Bye Alice," I said, shaking my head as she walked out of the office.

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The next chapters will be out pretty soon, though I don't think I'll do them quite as often as I did in the beginning, maybe once or twice a week.

And as usual, reviews are love. :]


	8. Alice And Shoe Shopping

AN;; Really sorry it took me so long, guys. But life has been really busy and crazy. It shows no signs of slowing anytime soon, but I finally found a few minutes to finish this chapter and get it up here. It's pretty short though, but I'm overall happy with it. Just some fun fluff. :]  
Next chapter will be their date, and I already have a lot of it written, I could do some before the date prep and such, if you guys want though.

Disclaimer;; I don't own Twilight.

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Chapter Eight.

"What's wrong with these?" I demanded, holding up strappy black heels. Obviously _I _could find several things wrong with them-they were heels, for one. And there was no way I would be able to walk in them without twisting my ankle, but they were the sort of thing that Rosalie usually stuck me in for dates.

"They just aren't right!" Rosalie insisted, continuing her search for the perfect pair of shoes.

I groaned, shutting my eyes. I was hot and tired. We had gone through at least seven stores this morning to find the perfect dress for me and Rose. I must have tried on thirty dresses before Rosalie had declared that I had found the perfect one. I had to admit I did like the dress a lot. It was a short blue halter dress, that fit me perfectly. The blue was nice against my light skin, and the silky fabric shimmered in the light.

And I would have been perfectly happy if we had gone home then. But no, Rose said that I needed the perfect pair of shoes to go along with it. Three stores later we were in here. I had tried at least five pairs since we had walked in, and none of them were _right. _

"I could just wear those heels I wore to the-" I started to say.

Rosalie cut me off with a dark look. "Not a chance." She sighed. "We won't be out much longer, Bella, just relax."

"Rosalie? Rosalie Hale?"

We both turned to see who had spoken. A short, pixie like girl was standing in front of us. She had spiky black hair and smokey blue eyes. I had never met her before, but I knew it was Alice Cullen, Edward's sister.

"Yes, hello Alice," Rosalie smiled.

Alice leaned over and gave her a hug, smiling enthusiastically. "It's great to see you! And I'm really happy for you and Emmett. You guys are just perfect together. Oh, and he's so much happier since he met you, he's always smiling, and it's just great!" She gushed.

Rose laughed. "It's great to see you too, Alice. And that's great to hear. Your brother is great." She winked and they both laughed again.

Alice's eyes moved to me and she studied me for a moment before smiling.

"Oh, Alice, this is Bella Swan. Bella, this is Alice Cullen," Rose introduced.

"Bella?" Alice said, turning to look at me again. "Edward's Bella?"

I blushed at the mention-and idea-of being "Edward's Bella," but nodded. "I guess you could say that."

"Oh!" Alice exclaimed. She surprised me by hugging me too. "It's so great to meet you! Edward was talking about you the other day. Between you and me I think he really likes you."

I smiled, even though my head was spinning a bit. "It's nice to meet you too, Alice."

"Are you guys shopping for your date?" Alice asked, glancing at the shopping bags sitting on the small bench beside me.

"Yes. We just found Bella the perfect dress. Show her, Bella," Rose encouraged.

I lifted the dress out of the bag and held it up.

"Oh, I love it! It'll look great on you, Bella, and blue is Edward's favorite color, so I know he'll love it." Alice continued, grinning.

I was fairly certain that I had never met anyone with as much engery as Alice. But I liked her a lot already.

"Now we are looking for some shoes to go with it," Rosalie explained.

"I'll help!" Alice said, her eyes lighting up. She glanced at me and smiled. "Shopping and fashion is kind of my speciality." She explained.

I nodded-I wasn't surprised-and tried to look interested.

Rosalie grinned. "We would love your help!" She explained to Alice what we-meaning her-was looking for.

Alice pursed her glossy lips and looked around the store. "I think I know a pair that is just what you're looking for..." She left us, walking over to the counter, talking to the tall woman working there. Alice smiled sweetly as she explained something to her. The woman nodded, and motioned to one of the other workers in the store. Alice explained something to her too, and then the worker disappeared into the back. A moment later she returned with a shoe box and handed it to Alice.

Alice walked back to us with a satisfied smile on her face. She held out the box to Rosalie. "I think these will be perfect."

Rosalie lifted the top off the box and a smile slid over her perfect face. "These are amazing, Alice. Just what I was imagining, they'll look amazing with Bella's dress! Try them on," she instructed me, holding the box out to me.

I took the box from her, and opened it up. I had to admit that I even I liked these shoes. They were heels, of course, but they were only an inch or two, unlike the ones Rose usually forced me into. They were strappy and pretty, and they didn't look like death traps, surprisingly.

I tried one on, and it fit perfect. Rosalie and Alice both exclaimed over them, agreeing that they looked great on me, and would match my dress.

Ten minutes later the three of us walked out of the store, all wearing satisfied smiles. Alice and Rosalie for finding the perfect pair of shoes, and me because we were finally done with the shopping.

Rosalie told Alice that we were planning on eating at The Patio, a sandwich shop, and asked if she wanted to join us. I agreed, wanting to get to know Alice better.

Alice agreed, grinning. "I would love too!"

We walked down the street to The Patio, and a waiter showed us to seats in the outside, and took our orders.

"You're going out with Emmett tonight, aren't you?" Alice asked Rosalie, taking a drink of her iced tea.

Rosalie nodded, smiling as soon as she heard Emmett's name. "Yes. I'm really looking forward to it. I like your brother a lot," she admitted.

Alice smiled. "I'm so glad he finally asked you out. We all. You two are great together."

Rose almost blushed. "Thanks."

Alice smiled again, showing off two rows of perfect teeth, and turned her attention to me. "What do you think of Edward, Bella?"

I took a sip of my coke and glanced down at my hands, blushing, of course. "I'm not really sure yet. I mean, we haven't really gotten to know each other very well yet. But he seems like a great guy, know that I am getting to know him."

She seemed to catch the meaning in my words, and nodded. "A lot of what you hear about us, it's very untrue. They paint us as really rich snobby people, a lot of times, that just do whatever we want, no matter what. But none of us-especially Edward-are like that."

I continued to blush, and nodded. "I can see that. Now that I've met you and Emmett and Edward...you guys are all great."

Her smile returned. "I think the three of us," she paused to glance at Rose, "are going to be best friends."

* * *

Hope you guys enjoyed it. Thanks as always to everyone who has reviewed and favorited and alerted this, and my other story [which I should also be updating this week. ]


	9. Candle Light

I spent days on this chapter. lol. I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out. I hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Nine.

BPOV.

"It was an amazing date," Rosalie sighed happily. "We went out to dinner, at this nice little restaurant. It was very modern and stylish, and it had the best food. We have to go there sometime, Bella. You'd love their deserts. And then we went to this club-that new one that opened downtown-and went dancing." Her eyes were bright and shining as she talked at Emmett, and I could tell that Rose _really _liked him. "It was just such a nice night. After the club he walked me home and we just talked. We are going out next weekend too, and he's already called me to tell me that he had a great time yesterday night too."

"That's great, Rose, I'm really happy for you," I told her, honestly, watching her in the mirror as she curled my hair. Now that she had such a perfect date with Emmett, she wanted me to have just as good a time with Edward, and that involved me looking perfect.

She smiled back at me, and finished my last shining curl and unplugged the curling iron, setting it down carefully so it could cool. "I think I'll pull it back from your face too," she mused, standing in front of me to study my hair.

My cell phone rang in my bedroom, and I started to get up to go get it, but Rosalie shook her head and gave me a threatening look. "I'll get it," she said. "You stay right there."

She came back with my cell phone. "It's Charlie," she informed me, handing it to me.

I flipped the phone open. "Hey Dad."

"Hey, Bells. I haven't talked to you for a while, wanted to make sure you were okay."

I smiled. "I'm fine, Dad. I'm doing really great, actually. My job is going really well, I love working for the newspaper. You've gotten the ones I've sent you?"

I could hear the pride in his voice as he spoke. "I have. You're doing a great job, Bells."

That was high praise from my Dad, and my smile widened.

"So what are you up too?"

"Oh, I'm getting ready for a date," I answered automatically, then cringed. I really didn't need to have just told my Dad that.

"Really? Who are you dating?"  
_Oh, just Edward Cullen. You know, Edward freaking Cullen, part of the richest family in town, completely gorgeous... _"Just some guy I met at this party Rose and I covered for the paper. He's really nice, but we aren't really dating. This is our first real date."

"Well I'm glad you are going out and having some fun. Just be careful, okay?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, Dad."

"Do you think you'll have anytime off soon? I miss you, kid." He changed the subject, and I smiled again. I did miss my Dad a lot, and I worried about him a lot too. He lived all alone in our little house. Thankfully, Mrs. Hale promised me to check in on him often and make sure he was being properly fed, before I had left.

"I'll try to visit as soon as I can," I promised. "Maybe at the end of the month."

"That'd be great. Just let me know."

"Of course."

"Well, I guess I should let you go, so you can finish getting ready for your date," he paused, and I glanced up, where Rosalie was holding her bag of makeup, tapping her foot impatiently as she gazed at the small clock on the counter pointedly, "I just wanted to check up on you. Call me soon, Bells."

"I will. I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, kiddo."

He hung up, and I shut my phone. Rosalie took it from me, setting it on the counter.

"What did Charlie want?" she asked, grabbing her makeup and starting to apply it to my face.

"He wants me to come visit soon. It has been a while, almost six months now," I said, thoughtfully.

She nodded. "I should go home soon, too. Visit my Mom and Jasper."

"You've got a few days off too, right? Maybe we can go at the end of the month."

"Sounds good," she said, continuing on my makeup. She watched my face carefully, and then asked. "Are you nervous?"

"About tonight?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, about tonight."

I glanced down at my hands. "Yeah, really nervous. I'm just not sure how to feel, still. I really like Edward, now that I've gotten to know him better, but I just can't imagine what he could possibly see in me. I mean, he's _Edward Cullen. _He could be with anyone he wanted, and a lot better people than me." I thought about what I had said when I first met him and cringed again. I tried not to think about it-since he seemed willing to completely forget it-but when I did I felt ashamed all over again.

Rosalie rolled her eyes at me again. "You really need to stop thinking like that. You're Isabella Swan. You work for a famous newspaper and millions of people see your name everyday. You're beautiful and have friends and family that love you. You are a strong confident woman. Act like it," she ordered.

I smiled. "Thanks, Rose."

She finished my makeup and stepped back to admire her work. "Yeah, no problem. Now hurry up and get dressed, Edward will be here in a few minutes."

----

EPOV.

I was nervous. Me, Edward Cullen, nervous. Extremely nervous. Over a girl. I had always been so confident about things, especially girls. Bella had me in a wreck, and I had only known her for barely two weeks.

I laughed at myself, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel as I made my way to her apartment to pick her up.

I made my way through traffic rather effortlessly, parking outside of her apartment and going inside, up to her floor. My heart was pounding as I got out of the elevator and walked down the hallway to her room. I knocked on the door and took a step back, smiling and waiting for someone to open the door.

Rosalie did, of course. She smiled when she saw me. "Hey, Edward. She'll be right down." Apparently her and Emmett's date yesterday had gone well, because he had been all smiles since then, and she looked happier than I had ever seen her before. "Bella will be ready in a minute. Want to come in?"

I nodded, and she moved out of the doorway so I could walk in. "Have a seat," she invited, sitting down in an old looking blue chair.

I tapped my foot against the floor, waiting for Bella to come.

Rosalie watched me with an amused expression on her face. It almost looked to me like she was studying me, trying to figure out how much I liked Bella.

I heard footsteps in the hall and we both turned to look.

Bella was wearing a short blue dress. It fell mid-thigh, and showed off her figure perfectly. She was wearing black heels, and her brown hair fell in silky brown waves down her back. She smiled at me.

"Wow, you look beautiful," I breathed, standing up.

She smiled, blushing, of course. "Thanks," she mumbled, embarrassed at the praise. Her brown eyes ran over me. "You too. Handsome, I mean,"

I smiled a crooked smile. "Ready to go?"

She nodded, reaching for a small black purse sitting on the table. "See you later, Rose."

Rosalie grinned. "Have fun, guys."

I offered my hand to Bella, and she took it.

It was short ride to the restaurant, and traffic was still surprisingly light, so we made good time. We said very little in the car. Our only conversation was me asking her what radio station she preferred. Turns out we listened to the same station, and I saw her mouthing the lyrics to a few of the songs that came on, smiling as she heard ones that she liked.

At the restaurant I went around to open her door for her, and she looked a bit surprised at this. "Thanks," she murmured, tripping as she got out of the car. I caught her before she fell over, helping her upright again. She blushed, muring her thanks again.  
Inside I gave the host my name for our reservation, and he lead us to a table in the back. The resturant was busy, as it was most weekends, but the table I had asked for when I'd made the reservation was rather secluded.

Bella's eyes scanned the restaurant, taking in the warm and romantic atmosphere of the restaurant. I held her chair for her, and she sat down, ordering her drink before looking down at the menu.

I didn't need to look at a menu, I had been here enough that I knew exactly what I would get. Instead I watched her. She glanced up at me after a minute, and the candlelight reflected in her eyes, making them sparkle.

"What's good here?" she asked, looking a bit overwhelmed by it all.

"It's all good. I like their mushroom ravioli, myself."

"That sounds good," she agreed.

I nodded the waiter back over, and gave him our orders.

"This is a really nice restaurant," Bella commented once he had left. It was a compliment to the restaurant, but I could hear the uncertainty on her voice. I wondered for a minute if I was rushing things too much.

I shrugged. "It's one of my favorites, I come here really often. If you're uncomfortable, though, we can go somewhere-"

"Oh, no!" She interrupted quickly. "It's really nice, really. I'm just not used to eating at such fancy places." She reassured me with a sweet smile.

"If you're sure you're okay."

"I am. Thanks for bringing me here," she murmured.

I smiled. "What do you want to talk about tonight?"

She studied my face for a moment. "I want to hear about you. And you're job, you've started working now, right?"

I nodded. I was a bit reluctant to start talking about myself-especially when I wanted to know so much more about her-but because she insisted, I started telling her about my job, about the office that my Grandpa Cullen had started, and about the case I had just been assigned-my first real case. She watched me while I spoke, and I could tell she was really listening to me, unlike a lot of girls I had dated. She seemed genuinely interested in my work and in...me.

Our food came then, and we fell into silence while we took a few bites.

A smile spread over Bella's face as she tasted it. "This is wonderful."

I smiled as well. "I'm glad you like it."

After a few minutes she encouraged me to talk some more, and I told her about my family. She mentioned that she had met Alice the day before, while she and Rosalie had been out shopping. Alice had only vaguely mentioned that when I had seen this morning. She had told me that Bella seemed like an amazing girl, and that she was sure she liked me, and that she liked Bella quite a bit herself. She had also told me 'not to blow it.'

Bella seemed to like Alice quite a bit, not that was a surprise. I was sure my sister hadn't meet anyone she didn't like, and that didn't like her. Something about the bubbling pixie was obviously endearing.

"She seems like quite the experienced shopper," Bella commented.

I grinned. "You have no idea. Her closet is bigger than her bedroom." I wasn't really joking, but Bella laughed anyway-she could probably imagine it.

When we finished dinner, I asked her if she wanted desert, but she declined. "It all looks amazing, but I'm full," she told me.

"We'll have to come back another time then, their cheesecake is the best."

She brightened at that, and I wondered if she would want to go on another date.

The band started playing at the restaurant, and I glanced at her. "Would you like to dance? Just once, before we leave?"

She bit her lip. "I don't know, Edward. I'm not a very good dancer."

I thought back to the first time we had met and shook my head. "You dance just fine. And you didn't protest when we first met."

She blushed. "I was too embarrassed to say anything, I just prayed I wouldn't step on your feet."

I chuckled. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I promise. Besides, it's all in the leading," I stood up and offered her my hand.

She took it without hesitation, and let me lead her onto the small dance floor. It was a slow, soft song, and she put her arms around my neck, so only an inch or two remained between us. I put her my hands around her waist, and caught a whiff of strawberry from her hair.

"See, you're dancing just fine," I told her, after a moment.

She blushed again. "I guess it all is in the leading."

I chuckled again. She looked beautiful, even more than before, if that was possible. I desperately wanted to pull her even closer to me and kiss her.

Her brown eyes met mine, and we gazed at each other for a minute, and she moved her head forward a bit, closer to mine, anticipating what was about to happen. As soon as I saw her move forward, I closed the distance between us, pressing my lips against hers.

---  
BPOV.

I shut my eyes, pressing my lips back against Edward's. We broke away before it turned into much, but it was an amazing kiss that had me smiling when it ended. I looked up and saw that Edward was smiling too. He said nothing, and neither did I.

I leaned my head against his chest, breathing in his amazing scent, as we continued to sway to the music playing. It had been a nice dinner. The food had been amazing, the resturant was extremely nice, and Edward was just...amazing. I finally gotten him to talk about himself while we ate, and he told me about being a lawyer, and Emmett and Alice and the rest of his family.

The song ended, and I frowned, I didn't want it to stop.

"Do you want to keep dancing or leave?" Edward murmured into my ear.

I hated for tonight to be over, and for him to take me home, but glancing at the elegant looking clock in the restaurant, I knew that I should be getting home soon. "I guess we should leave," I said, eluctantly.

He nodded and lead me back to our table, where I grabbed my small purse and he left a tip. The waiter nodded as us as he walked past, wishing us a nice evening. Edward nodded and smiled in return. He intertwined his fingers with mine and lead me outside.

It was a nice night-clear and bright-but chilly. I shuddered a bit as the breeze blew past us, and Edward looked at me with concern. "Are you cold?"

I shook my head. "Not really. I'm fine."

He nodded, but drew me a bit closer to his side, smiling at me as we walked through the parking lot, to his car. "I had a great time."

I smiled up at him. "I did too."

We found his silver Volvo and he opened the passengers door for me, helping me inside, then went around to the other side and got in, starting up the car. He turned the heat on low, and I felt the warm air blowing through the vents.

We talked a bit more on the way back to my apartment, but mostly we rode in a comfortable silence, only the noise of the radio between us. He had changed to a different station, and familar music flooded through, warm and soothing. "Debussy?" I asked, closing my eyes.

"You've heard of Debussy?" He sounded surprised.

I nodded, opening my eyes again. "Yeah, my Dad used to play it around the house sometimes. It was one of my mother's favorites..." I trailed off, but smiled at the memory. Charlie wasn't an affectionate type, he never talked about his feelings or anything like that. Playing Mom's favorites songs had been a way of remembering her.

He gave me a soft smile, like he was unsure how to respond to that. Instead he asked. "What's your favorite?"

"This one. Clair De Lune," I gestured to the radio.

"Mine too."

He pulled up in front of my apartment building, but made no move to shut the car off or get out. "We should talk for a minute."

I nodded. "Okay."

"I had an amazing time with you tonight," he smiled a crooked smile and I was sure I had never seen a better smile. I think I figured out what _swooning _was at that moment. If it there really was such a thing, I was doing it.

"I had an amazing time with you too," I said, once I had found my voice again.

"I want to see you again, Bella. I guess what I'm saying, is I want us to be exclusive, girlfriend and boyfriend," he rushed out the words, then swallowed visibly, waiting for my response.

I was shocked. I had never expected that. "Really?" I asked.

He smiled. "Yes, really."

"I'd love too, Edward."

He smiled that crooked smile and leaned towards me, kissing me again. It was a long, slow kiss, and I felt dizzy with happiness when we finally broke apart.

"I'll walk you to your door," he offered, reaching for his door handle. He came and opened my door for me again, and he held my hand again as we walked into the building. At the apartment door he kissed me softly again, then ran his hand down my cheek gently. "I'll call you soon," he promised, before leaving.

I shook my head, wondering if this was all just a dream. It was several minutes before I started thinking straight again, and opened the door.


	10. Newspapers

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this out, guys. I've been so busy lately. The only time I'm even at my house is to sleep, pretty much. But yay, I finally got this chapter done. :] I don't know when the next one will be out...but hopefully it'll be soon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Ten.

EPOV.

I was still on cloud nine when I woke up the next morning, remembering Bella's beautiful face, and her saying _'I'd love too, Edward,' _when I had asked her if she wanted to be my girlfriend.

My cheeks turned hot when I remembered that. How junior high of me to ask her something like _that. _But I had wanted her to know that I was serious, that I didn't want this to be some fling, something that only lasted a few dates before one of us stopped calling and that was it. I wanted-I had to-know if she wanted that too.

And she had. I was grinning when I walked down the stairs for breakfast. When I saw my parents at the table, I tried to tone down the smile a bit. They would probably think I was high or something, if I came down to breakfast grinning like an idiot. I wasn't exactly a morning person.

"Good morning, Edward," Esme sang softly, looking up from the book she was reading while she ate, to smile at me.

"Morning, Mom," I said. I started to sit down across from her at my normal seat when Carlisle tossed a newspaper down on the table in front of me, a frown on his face. "Care to tell me about this?"

He didn't look happy, so I braced myself for the worst as I looked down at the paper.

I was greeted by a picture of Bella and I. It was from dinner, last night. We were walking outside of the restaurant, hand in hand, smiling at each other. I started grinning again as I saw her blue dress and brown curls.

_My girl. _The words sounded so sweet in my mind.

"Well?" Carlisle asked me, impatiently. I glanced back at him, annoyed. I didn't see anything wrong with this picture. I didn't know how Bella would feel about it, but it was to be expected at some point or another, if we were going to stay together. My eyes moved to the small print underneath the picture.

"Edward Cullen was seen with a mystery date last night. He took her to _La Bella Italia. _Witnesses said that he referred to her as _Bella _and that the two seemed very close, talking and laughing, and then dancing after they had finished their dinner. We have to wonder who is this _Bella _and is she just another one of Edward's flings?"

I snorted at that, and both my parents turned to look at me with curious expressions.

"Who is she?" Carlisle asked.

"Bella," I said, matter of factly.

He gave me an experasted look. "I know her name is _Bella, _Edward. But how did you meet her, how long have you been dating her, is this another fling because you know that if she is it's going to look horrible for your rep-"

"She is not a fling," I cut him off, shaking my head. "Her name is Bella Swan, and I met her at that party that Alice threw for me when I passed my bar exam. She works with Rosalie Hale at the newspaper, and Rosalie brought her along to help her cover the party. She introduced me, and a week later the four of us went out, and things just kind of went from there." I shrugged casually

"And you're serious about her?" he asked, amazement in his voice.

I nodded. "Yes."

Esme grinned at me, and I could tell she was just dying to ask me a million questions about Bella.

"Well, you should invite her to dinner then. Maybe this weekend?" My dad went on.

I stared. "Are you serious? We haven't...we aren't....it's too soon."

He smiled. "Nonsense. If you are serious, we want to meet her. Have Emmett ask Rosalie, if it makes everyone more comfortable."

"Please ask her, Edward, I'd love to meet her," Esme put in.

It was times like this when I severely regretted moving back home after college, even if it was just for a little while I got my career going. How on earth was I going to ask Bella if she wanted to come to dinner and meet my parents...this weekend?

I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath. "I'll ask her."

"Great!" Esme and Carlisle said at the same time.

"Yeah, great. I'm going to work," I said. I would just get coffee on the way. I took one last look at the newspaper and decided I should call Bella during lunch to make sure that the picture and article hadn't upset her.

---

BPOV.

The sun was shining, and it was a warm day, for once. Everything about today was gorgeous. The weather, the way the city looked, the way I felt. It was just...beautiful. I felt so light and happy.

It was very out of character for me, especially to be so excited over just a guy, but this wasn't just _any _guy. This was Edward. _My _Edward. I started giggling-yes, giggling-all over again at that though. It was hard to believe that I was Edward's girlfriend though. His _girlfriend. _

_God, you're being stupid, Bella. _

My sectary turned to look at me, her eyes studying me carefully. She didn't ask why I was acting so strange and giggling like a 12 year old girl at work, but I could tell by her expression that she was sure I was insane.

_Right. At least tone it down at work. _

I glanced at the clock. It was almost time for my lunch break.

Edward had called me earlier, right about the time I had arrived at work, asking if I would join him for lunch. He sounded excited too, and that had made my heart soar again. He had also asked me if I'd seen one of today's papers. I hadn't, but I planned on picking one up on my way to meet him.

The clock finally hit twelve and I jumped up from my seat, saving all the work on my computer and grabbed my bag. "I'll be back in an hour," I said, to no one in particular.

I stopped at a newspaper stand on the way to meet Edward at the diner we had had our 'first date' at. I asked the older guy there for a paper, and I paid for it, quickly flipping to the society section. He had only told me that we had been mentioned in it.  
I guess it didn't surprise me, not really. Edward was part of the richest family around, and they were so well known around here. Him going out someone was big news. I knew Rosalie wouldn't print something about us, unless we wanted her too, but of course the other gossip columnist would.

I was a bit surprised, however, to see a picture of us on the front page. It had been taken as we were leaving the restaurant last night. It was a nice picture of us, but I couldn't believe that they had gotten something like that, and so fast. I shook my head, taken back by it all, and looked own to scan the article accompanying it.

"Edward Cullen was seen with a mystery date last night. He took her to _La Bella Italia. _Witnesses said that he referred to her as _Bella _and that the two seemed very close, talking and laughing, and then dancing after they had finished their dinner. We have to wonder who is this _Bella _and is she just another one of Edward's flings?"

I frowned, upset for a moment about the way my name was in italics, like they didn't even believe that was my name, and they way they brought up the fact that Edward had had so many flings before. He wasn't exactly known for his commitment and lasting relationships.

_But he told me he was serious about us. _

I sighed, unsure what to really think. Even if he was serious now, would he get tired of me in a month or so? Was I just another fling, was this what he said to everyone?

I folded the paper back up and tossed into a nearby garbage can. I certainly didn't need to keep the paper. I took a minute to shut my eyes and clear my head. I ran my fingers through my hair and made sure I looked presentable, and then headed to my lunch with Edward.

He was waiting for me when I got to the diner. He was sitting in the same booth we had sat in that first time, and I smiled a bit, coming over to sit down across from him. "Hey."

"Hey," he replied, smiling a crooked smile at me.

It was enough to make my knees melt.

"Did you have a nice night?" he asked pleasantly.

I nodded. "I did." Truth was I spent most of the night eating ice cream and gushing about everything that had happened with Rosalie.

He smiled. "Good."

I laughed tensely, at the formal conversation. The waitress came over to us then. It was our normal waitress, Angela. She tucked her brown hair behind her ear and smiled at us. "Hey, Bella,"

I smiled. "Hey, Angela. Ang, this is my...this is Edward. Edward, Angela."

Edward stuck his hand out. "Nice to meet you, Angela."

His name registered with her, and she stared at me for a minute, eyes wide. Edward's voice pulled her back to reality, and she shook his hand. "You too, Edward," she said politely, still looking incredulous.

"Well, uh, what would you guys like to eat?"

We ordered burgers and coke, and she went to get her orders, shaking her head as she walked away. I almost laughed.

I turned back to Edward. "I saw the paper," I said in a casual voice. I knew I was probably being stupid about my whole episode earlier.

He made a face. "I was afraid you had. I'm glad though, I guess. I wanted to talk to you about it, actually. It said a lot of...untrue things. Normally I would just call the paper and straighten it out, tell them that if they are going to print stuff about me, it needs to be true, and then give them the facts. I didn't want to do this, though, unless you are okay with it. If it doesn't bother you, we can just ignore it, of course. But if you want people to know the truth and are okay with it..." he trailed off.

"You mean you'd call the paper and tell them that I'm actually you're...girlfriend?" I asked, taken by surprise.

He nodded calmly. "Of course. But only if that's what you want. They'll want to print your name and everything. I didn't want us to be in such a spotlight yet, but I guess there's not much we can do about it now..."

_Wow. _I felt my carefree state return. "That's....fine." I said.

He smiled. "I'm glad that's settled. It didn't upset you, right?"

I shook my head. "No, of course not." _Not now..._

He continued smiling. "There's something else I wanted to ask you, then."

Angela returned with our cokes, and set them down in front of us. I reached for mine, taking a long drink while I waited for Edward to go on.

He looked almost...embarrassed? "Well...my parents saw the article, of course. They asked me about you...and they want to meet you. My Mom told me to ask you to dinner with us this Sunday. She wants Emmett to bring Rosalie too....if you don't want to come, though, you don't have too. I understand completely and-"

"Oh, no, Edward...it's fine. I'll come," I said right away. I wasn't sure why I responded so quickly and so enthusiastically. The idea of eating at the Cullen's house, with Edward's parents was....beyond terrifying. But I knew I would do it.

"I know it's rushing things a bit..." he said, looking worried.

That's _why _I would do it. After the whole paper this morning, this confirmed it to me, even more, that he was really serious about this. That he really did want to be my boyfriend, like I wanted to be his girlfriend.

"It's fine, Edward, really. Don't worry about it," I told him, trying to smile.

He leaned across the table a bit to brush his lips over my forehead in a soft kiss. "Thank you, Bella."

I smiled back. I guess I was going to meet the Cullen family.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! I'm really amazed at how many reviews this has gotten, so thanks so much! Hope you guys liked this chapter.


	11. Lullaby

Sorry it took so long! This chapter gave me some _major _issues, and just didn't want to be written.

Also, I want to point out that Carlisle and Esme are going to be OOC in this story.  
And it doesn't hurt to listen to Bella's lullaby towards the middle of the chapter. It helped me a ton writing it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I also apologize for any mistakes. It's one in the morning and I'm falling asleep.

* * *

Chapter 12  
BPOV.

"Stop fidgeting, Bella. You look fine." Rosalie rolled her eyes at me, staring at herself in the mirror as she applied her make-up. Even though Emmett had invited her to meet the Cullen's tonight too, she didn't look even remotely as nervous as I felt.

"I don't see the big deal," she had said, when I'd told her I was nervous earlier. "We already know Emmett, Alice and Edward, and that's more than half the family right there. The only people we haven't met is their parents, and if they raised kids like the three of them, they can't be so bad, right?"

She was probably right. It didn't really make me feel any better though. With Edward our differences really hadn't been much of an issue so far. I knew it would be eventually, but right now it was almost possible for me to forget about his money completely, when we were having fun just going out to diners and movies. If it hadn't been for that article about the two of us in the gossip section of the paper I probably wouldn't have even be thinking about it now. But going to his house, and meeting his parents, was sure to remind me of this fact. In a big way. And just because he didn't seem to mind that I was practically poor and lived in a tiny apartment with my best friend, would his parents?

"You're not nervous at all?" I asked Rose, looking at her skeptically.

Her blue eyes flicked in my direction for a second before going back to the mirror. "Well, I'm a little nervous, of course. But it's not really that big of a deal."

"Says you," I muttered, glancing at myself in the mirror one final time. I looked pretty good. Rosalie had picked out my outfit, of course. I was wearing dark wash skinny jeans and brown boots that cut off just below my knees, and a dark blue top that flattered my figure nicely. I smiled, thinking of how Edward said he loved the color blue on me. Rose had straightened my hair instead of curling it for once. I looked casual but sort of sophisticated. At least that's what I hoped I looked like.

Rose looked great, of course. She was wearing white skinny jeans and a light pink top. She had straightened her own hair as well, and was wearing matching pink heels.

There was a knock on the door, and I jumped. Rose snickered at me and told me to go answer the door and to stop looking 'so scared to death.'

I shot my best glare in her direction and then hurried down the hallway to answer the door. My mood was brightened when I realized that it was almost positively Edward behind the door.

And it was of course, Emmett standing beside him, the two of them smiling when I opened the door. Edward's eyes ran over me, and his smile widened. "You look amazing, Bella," he told me, leaning over to kiss me.

"Thanks." I smiled, blushing a little. I told them to come in and make themselves at home, since Rosalie was probably going to be a few more minutes.

We watched the ending of some lame movie on TV and then Rosalie finally appeared in the hallway, ready to go. Emmett told her how amazing she looked, and then the four of us left. We all went in Edward's car. After some arguing about where everyone would sit, I ended up sitting in the back seat with Rosalie, while the two of them fought over who got to control the radio.

There was very little conversation on the ride over to their house, other than the argument over the radio, and the silence just made me that much more nervous.

"Almost there," Edward muttered, pulling into a long driveway. There was a tall elaborate fence around the property, and the gate had a "C" detailed into the wrought iron. The driveway was long, and finally it stopped at a very large house. It was three stories, and very modern, wide and open, with more windows than wall. I know I was staring at it, mouth open, as Edward shut the car off. I knew that the Cullen's would live in a nice place. But this...? Wow.

Edward got out, coming around to open the door for me. He took my hand as soon as I was out of the car, and he brought it up to his face and kissed it, smiling at me reassuringly. "Ready?"

I cleared my throat. "Oh, er, yes. Nice house, by the way." I tried to sound casual.

He smiled at me, but didn't say anything, instead he just led me up to the front door. Alice was standing there as we opened the door. "Bella!" she chirped, coming over to hug me. "It's so good to see you again! And wow, I love your boots. Your hair looks really good like that too. You should-"

"Alice," Edward said, in a disapproving voice.

She rolled her eyes at him, and turned to say hi to Rosalie.

"Dinners almost ready," she told us. "You have enough to show Bella around though, Edward."

He nodded, looking eager to get away from his siblings. "Let's go," he murmured to me, leading me further into the house. It was all just...stunning. Everything about it. It was too much to take in at once, and only a few things registered. Pictures of the Cullen's as small children. I smiled at the pictures of small bronze haired Edward, murmuring something about how cute he was to him. He rolled his eyes at me and lead me up a staircase. We bypassed the second floor and continued up to the third, and then down a hallway. He opened a door and led me into a room. The walls were painted gold, and there was a wrought iron bed, with a matching gold comforter. The walls were lined with shelves full of CD cases, and a huge stereo system. One wall, the one that his bed rested against, was just a large window, and it over looked the Cullen's land. It was amazing view of trees, and a small pond and a bridge going over it. It looked like something out of a magazine.

"Wow," I breathed.

"This is my room," he said softly.

"It's amazing, Edward. And that view is just...wow."

He chuckled a bit. "That's why I choose this room. For the view."

I smiled at him, and wandered further into the room, going over to the shelves and running my fingers lightly along the CD cases. "You have so many CD's."

He shrugged. "I like music."

Like? I smiled. "How is it arranged? By your favorites? Or...?"

His eyebrows raised at my question, and then he shrugged. "No order, really. Favorites, I guess. The ones on the higher shelves is stuff I rarely listen too."

I nodded, turning away from the shelves to smile at him.

"Come with me, there's something else I want to show you," he said, reaching out of my hand again and leading me back down the stairs. He lead me into a room that was probably best described as a family room, though it was way more elaborate than any family room I had ever seen before. The room was light and airy, like the rest of the house, but what caught my attention the most was the baby grand piano, which was set up with place of honor, stealing all the attention.

He let go over my hand, walking over to the piano and sitting down. He ran his fingers over the keys for a minute, and then started playing something. I recognized the piece vaguely, but enough to remember the name of it. It was beautiful though. Edward played...he was amazing.

He played that for a few minutes and then shifted into another piece. He looked up at me, smiling that crooked smile. "I put this together over the last few weeks, actually. I wrote it for you."

---  
EPOV.

She stared at me, open mouthed, as I started to play her song. I liked this piece more than anything I had ever done before. It was slow and haunting in the beginning, and slowly built into so much more. I knew it well, I had played it over and over again the last few days. It was the only thing I could focus on to play when I sat down at my piano. Because all I thought about was _her. _

She was watching me play, memorized, her breathing heavy. She looked like she was about to say something, then thought better of it, not wanting to interrupt the music. I continued to play, humming along gently to the music, until I had played the final notes and turned to see her reaction.

"You...wrote that...for me?" she asked, her brown eyes widening in amazement.

I nodded. "Yes, I did. Did you like it?"

"Like it...? Edward, that was the most amazing I have ever heard in my entire life. And you wrote that? For me?"

I chuckled a bit. "I'm glad you liked it, Bella." I motioned for her to come over to me, and she sat down at the bench beside me, sliding close to me.

"That was amazing, Edward. Thank you," she breathed. I crushed my lips to hers, wrapping my arms around her waist. Her hands moved up to twist in my hair as her lips moved with mine. I pulled her roughly to me, wanting her closer.

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway, and Bella sprang away from me, sitting up and fixing the hem of her shirt and fix her hair quickly.

It was Mom standing in the doorway. She had probably come to find us to tell us dinner was ready. She was watching us with amused smiles. "You must be Bella."

Bella blushed a deep red. "Er, yes, I am."

"I'm Esme, Edward's mother. It's nice to meet you, dear."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Cullen."

She laughed. "None of that, dear. You can call me Esme."

"Yes, Esme," Bella amended.

"Well, dinner is ready, and everyone is waiting for us..." she trailed off, and I nodded, standing up. I grabbed Bella's hand, and we followed Mom into the dinning room. I had hoped we would just eat at the table in the kitchen, but of course she wanted to use the dinning room. I frowned as I glanced around the overly done room. Bella seemed a bit overwhelmed by the house, and I hadn't to make her feel that way anymore than necessary. She seemed okay in here, though.

Carlisle came into the room, his eyes running over both Bella and Rosalie.

"Bella, this is my father, Carlisle. Carlisle, this is Bella Swan," I introduced.

He came over and held his hand out to her. "It's nice to meet you, Bella."

"You too, Mr. Cullen," she replied politely, smiling tentatively at him.

He didn't correct her to call him Carlisle, and he smiled briefly before moving over to say hello to Rosalie. When he was done being introduced-even though he had met her before at various parties-and he sat down, I sat down next to Bella, across from Rosalie and Emmett.

It was a simple dinner, and for that I was grateful. We all started to eat in an awkward silence.

"So, what is it that you do, Bella?" Mom asked.

Bella swallowed. "I work at for a newspaper. The same as Rosalie, actually. I do current news, though."

Mom nodded. "I"ve probably read your articles before," she smiled.

Bella smiled back.

"Where are you from?" Carlisle asked.

"Both Rose and I are from a small town in southern New York. Our families still live there, but we moved here after college."

"Oh, so you guys have known each other for a while?" Mom asked.

Rose nodded, and smiled. "Our entire lives. Bella's more like a sister than just a friend," she explained, and Bella smiled back at her.

Mom smiled. "That's nice."

The rest of dinner went smoothly. My parents asked more questions about Rosalie and Bella's childhood, and about their jobs. My parents seemed happy with their answers, and Bella even started looking sort of comfortable. But then again, maybe that was just the wine.

We stayed for desert, and then since it was late, Emmett and I drove Rosalie and Bella back to their apartment.

"I hope that wasn't too bad," I said, helping Bella out of the car. She stumbled a bit getting out, and I couldn't help but smile. _My beautiful clumsy girl. _

"Oh, no, it wasn't too bad," she smiled at me, as I helped her regain her balance. "As good as meeting the parents can be, right?"

I opened the door to the building for her, following her inside.

"I think they liked me," she said.

"Of course they did, Bella." I couldn't imagine anyone _not _liking her.

She shrugged, seeming unsure. "Edward, do you think..." she stopped, biting her full bottom lip.

"What?" I asked. We were at her door now, but I wasn't about to let her go in.

"It's nothing," she insisted, shaking her head. "Not important."

I frowned. "It is important. Please, tell me," I pleaded softly.

She frowned. "It's just...do you think money is going to be...important? You're....well, Edward freaking Cullen, and I'm just Bella, and I'm pretty much poor, and always have been, and I'm not sophisticated, or refined, or anything like that, and you are."

I swallowed hard. This is what I had been afraid of. Money hadn't been too much of an issue before. But seeing the house... and my parents. I sighed. "No, Bella, it's not important. Really. I don't care about _any _of that stuff. I don't want that stuff, I want you."

She stared up at me, her lips twisting up a bit when I said that I wanted _her. _But she didn't seem reassured. "I know. I know you don't. But what about your parents?"

I frowned, because I honesty couldn't be sure about that. I liked to think my parents didn't care about that. That they could look past money and names and all of that and see that Bella was a wonderful girl, and that I liked her more than any other girl I had ever been with. But they could be shallow. If Bella had just been some girl I was dating...they wouldn't care. But they knew I was serious about her. And I just...didn't know.

"I'm sure they feel the same way I do," I lied, hoping that it was true. "They'll see that you are an amazing girl, and that I'm crazy about you, and that's what's important."

She didn't look certain, but she nodded. Then her face lit up into a lopsided smile. "You're crazy about me, huh?"

I laughed at her, running my fingers down her soft, warm, cheek, as the blood rushed up to her face in a blush. "Silly, beautiful girl," I teased. I leaned close to her, and I could feel her breath on my face. Her brown eyes shut as I got closer to her lips. I crushed my lips to hers, putting my hands around her waist as I sucked on her bottom lip.

Her hands came up to tangle in my hair, as she pressed herself closer to me, her mouth moving against mine. She tasted better than anyone, and I couldn't get enough of her.

Finally we both pulled away, gasping for breath. She smiled at me, her fingers still tangled in my hair. "I should go in," she said, still breathing heavy.

I smirked. "Yeah, probably."

"Call me tomorrow?"

I leaned in for another kiss. "Of course."

She grinned, kissing me quickly. "Goodnight, Edward."

She walked into the apartment, turning to smile at me before shutting the door.

"Night Bella," I murmured as the door shut.


	12. Gold Digger

Here it is. [sorry it's taken so long!] Hope you guys enjoy it. I won't make any promises, but I am definitely going to try harder to get the chapters out faster.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter 12.

Gold Digger.

Edward's POV.

It was after midnight when I got back to the house. The house was mostly dark, aside from a light in the foyer, and I figured everyone had already gone to bed. I headed into the kitchen to get something to drink before I went up to my room.

I was really happy with how dinner had gone. Bella had seemed to like my parents, and they seemed to like her too. And I had finally played her her song. Remembering her reaction made me smile, and I felt that happy, weightless feeling over again.

I had never felt like this about anyone before.

"Is that you, Edward?"

I jumped, almost falling into the fridge door. I had not been expecting someone to still be up. I turned and saw my Mom standing there, still dressed from dinner.

"Holy crap, Mom, don't sneak up on people like that!" I turned away from her and opened the fridge, looking for a bottle of water.

"So sorry," she said, and even though my back was turned away from her, I knew she was rolling her eyes. "I wasn't sneaking up on you. I was came down when I heard someone in the kitchen. I didn't expect you to be home this early. Or, at all." I didn't miss the meaning of her words.

"Bella's different, Mom," I said, quietly, grabbing a bottle of water, and twisting the cap off.

I'll be honest. I expected my Mom to be on cloud nine with the news that I was finally settling down and finding someone that meant something to be. That wasn't, however, her reaction. Instead she frowned at me.

"What?" I asked, taken off guard. "Didn't you guys like her?"

"It's not that. She seemed to be a...lovely girl," she added, generously.

I frowned. "What does _that _mean?"

She rolled her eyes at me, again. "Edward, come on. I'm sure she's nice and sweet, but she's not for you. It's obvious."

"What are you talking about? Of course she's for me. Mom. I think she's the one."

Her mouth fell open, and then shut quickly, her eyes disapproving. "No. She's not. She is not the girl for you."

"Why not?" I challenged.

I half-expected her to put back on her prim 'New Yorks Finest Family' face, and walk out of the room, avoiding any type of confrontation. But instead she turned to face me. "She's from some little family, in some little town. She's a nobody. A nobody is probably generous," she said, a smirk ghosting across her face. "And even though she's sweet, you deserve better. Bella Swan doesn't know anything about our life, she wouldn't know how to act, or how to handle this kind of fame and press."

I opened my mouth to protest that none of that mattered, but she wasn't finished yet. "And besides, we really don't know _anything _about her. For all we know, she could just be a gold digger, after your money. Lord knows she wouldn't be the first one."

I stared at her, anger bubbling deep inside me. "She is not a _gold digger," _I hissed. "Money is the last thing that matters to Bella."

She smiled lightly. "Possibly. Or possibly she's just a fantastic actress."

"You've got to be kidding. I figured you'd be happy for me," I added. "You've always wanted me to settle down and find someone."

She nodded, acknowledging that yes, that's what she wanted for him. "Yes, dear, but what I meant by finding someone was someone different like...Tanya, for instance. Now that-"

"_That _is never going to happen."

"I don't see why not. She's a lovely girl, she's always had a thing for you."

"And Tanya isn't a gold digger?"

She looked shocked by my suggestion. "Her family is nearly as well off as ours, I can't imagine her needing money."

"No. Just a name," I said, matter of factly.

She shook her head at me, a praticed tolerance on her face. "Regardless, I don't approve of Bella."

I laughed, without a trace of humor. "I'm sorry to hear that, Esme, because your approval isn't necessary."

She smirked. "Of course it is, Edward, because don't forget that I can stop you from getting your trust fund next year."

I flinched a bit at that. I had gotten a trust fund when I turned twenty one, so it wasn't like I was hurting for cash. But my parents had give me a trust fund that I would receive at twenty six-next year. And it was a big one. I had been counting on that money. I wanted to build a house someday, maybe start my own law firm...

But would I trade Bella to get a trust fund?

I shrugged. "Fine," I told her calmly. I turned away, heading back up to my own room without another glance in her direction. I was going to go look up apartments or houses or something. It was far past time to move out.

The next morning I went over to the newspaper office during my lunch hour, and convinced Bella to let me take her out to lunch. She protested at first, complaining that she had a ton of work to do, but in the end she decided to come eat with me. I took her to the little diner that we had eaten at when we had been dragged along with Rosalie and Emmett.

She ordered 'the usual' while I ordered a burger. As the waitress-the same one that we had that night as well-walked away, Bella turned to me with a smile.

"So dinner really went well last night?" she asked, still looking unsure.

Of course, she had reason to be unsure. I fought back a wince thinking about last night. "Of course it did," I told her, my cheerfulness a bit forced. I hated lying to her, but what else was I going to do? "Well I thought it went well, but truth is, my mother thinks you're a gold digger, and if I stay with you I'm going to lose a huge trust fund." Yeah, that'd go over well. So I just smiled instead.

She smiled back at me. "I was really nervous," she admitted.

I continued to smile back at her, and then quickly changed the subject. I couldn't keep lying to her about this, I didn't want to talk about it anymore. Instead we talked about the Holidays coming up in the next month or so.

"Oh, speaking of which," she said, when I mentioned Thanksgiving in just three weeks. "I'm going to visit my father this weekend."

"Oh?"

She nodded. "I've been promising to come see him for a while, so I'm taking a few days off and going to see him. I'll be back on Monday, though. I'm leaving Thursday. Rosalie's coming with me, so she can see her family."

I hated the thought of her leaving, even it was just for a few days. "I'll miss you." I told her, honestly, and she grinned back at me.

"I'll miss you too."

"Any chance you'll let me come along?" I teased. "I haven't met your father, and you have met my parents." Because, look how well that turned out.

She rolled her eyes playfully. "I'd probably give him a heart attack bringing you home with such little warning. And my father is a cop, you know. But actually...I'm going home for Thanksgiving too. I know you're probably busy with your own stuff here, and spending the Holidays with your own family, but I'd love it if you came along. We usually have a big dinner, me, my father, Rosalie and her family, and the Black's. It'd be great if you were there."

"I'd love too," I told her, without a second thought. "Count me in."

Her face lit up. "Really?"

I nodded, chuckling. "Yes, really."  
"Thank you! Oh, this will be great. I hated the thought of spending Thanksgiving without you."

The words were music to my ears. "Our first Thanksgiving together." I loved the sound of it.

She finished her food, and I paid, leaving a tip on the table. Both of us stood up and I put my arm around her, as we left the resturant. She tipped her head up so she was closer to my ear. "Hopefully the first of many," she murmured, and then kissed the skin right below my ear.

I held back a moan, bringing her closer to me. "Many, many more," I promised, my voice low. Because seeing her, close against me, her brown curls framing her face, and her cheeks flushed from the chilly wind, I was more sure than ever that this really was the only girl for me.

I could imagine us in twenty years, in a big house just outside of the city, Bella still as beautiful as ever sitting beside me at a table full of our family and friends...and our children.

It hit me suddenly, how badly I wanted that. I had never really been the type for marriage. It wasn't something I had ever considered with anyone, or ever really doing, but thinking about marrying Bella...it was something completely different.

And I wanted it.

"I like the sound of that," she said in a low voice to me. She looked like she was about to say something else but I cut her off before she had the chance, pressing my lips to hers. She moved against me, twisting her fingers in my hair, while my hands clutched her against me.

I was sure that this picture would probably make some headlines tomorrow, but in that moment I couldn't care less. I had Bella, and that was _all _I needed.

* * *


	13. Turning Home

Well this took longer than I intended to get out. I had some serious writers block when it came to the middle of the chapter. But I'm sick right now, and completely bored with nothing to do but sit around and 'rest', so I pushed through it and got it finished. Hope you enjoy it. It puts some insight into how Bella's feeling about her and Edward's relationship.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen.

Turning Home.

Bella's POV.

Thursday morning Rosalie and I packed up her BMW and the two of us headed to our little hometown a few hours from New York City. I was feeling pretty good going into the whole trip.

Last night Edward and Emmett came over to our apartment and watched a couple movies with us. Edward and I had said a passionate goodbye before they left, murmuring to me that he couldn't wait for me to get back, and a promise to call me every night as he walked out the door.

It was still hard to believe that I was dating Edward Cullen. And that he really seemed serious about me. I'll admit it was still kind of hard for me to show him how I truly felt. I knew that he hadn't really _dated _before, at least not anything serious. He didn't use people, he just had never settled down with anyone. And yeah, it was hard to believe that he would decide to settle down with _me _of all people.

But truth was I crazy for him. My thoughts were pretty much all focused on him, and ever since he had taken to me to lunch the other day, and said something about wanting to spend many Thanksgivings with me... I felt like I could burst with happiness.

It seemed like he really was crazy about me too-not that I understood why. And I couldn't shake the happiness that came over me whenever I thought about it.

But even though I would miss Edward while I was home, I was really excited to be going home. I hadn't seen Charlie or anyone for almost a year now, and I really missed them.

Rosalie was excited too, I think, but she spent the entire trip talking about Emmett, and how great he was. I was happy for them, especially after watching them flirt for so long. It was about time something had happened between them. And they really did seem happy. I was afraid that I would be losing my roommate soon.

We arrived at home around noon, pulling into my driveway, since there was only one car parked there. Our parents lived next store to each other, though.

She turned the car off, and we stepped out of the car. It didn't take long before the front door opened at the Hale's house, and Mrs. Hale stepped out onto the porch.

Mrs. Hale looked a lot like her daughter. She had the same super model figure-even now-and blond hair and blue eyes. She was practically my second mother.

She hurried out to the driveway, hugging Rosalie, and then me.

"You two look so good!" she exclaimed, holding me at arms length, her eyes running over me. "I'm so glad you're here!"

Rosalie laughed. "Us too, Mom."

"It's great to be back," I chimed in.

"Well come inside! Bella, Charlie's out at work, and so is Robert. And Jasper...well I'm not even sure where he is. But they are all coming over tonight for dinner," she explained, motioning to us to follow her into the house.

Inside she went straight into the kitchen to get us something to drink, telling us to go sit down in the living room, and she'd 'be right there.'

The house looked the same as always, and Rose and I exchanged grins as we sat down on the big brown couch in the house that we had grown up in.

I couldn't speak for her, but I knew that being here made me feel like we were fourteen again, sitting up late at night giggling about boys and school and everything else.

Mrs. Hale came back with our drinks, and she sat down in one of the recliners, pulling up her feet. She asked us about work, and our apartment, and everything else. She asked if were dating, and we told her about Emmett and Edward. When Rosalie told her their last name, her jaw dropped.

"The Cullen's? Wait. Both of you are dating a _Cullen?" _she asked, when she finally managed to pick her jaw up off the floor. "Like, the rich family in the city Cullen's?"

Rosalie nodded, laughing at her Mom's reaction. "Mom, I've known the Cullen's-and Emmett-for years. It's just taken him this long to do something about it. And Bella and Edward...well I don't know," she grinned at me. "They hated each other at first. I mean you should have _heard _Bella, she was so rude to him."

I cringed. I hated thinking about that.

"But now they are crazy about each other. It seems she's tamed Edward Cullen's wild heart. Go figure." She shook her head and shrugged.

"I'm really not sure if you just insulted me just now or not," I told her, with a frown.

She ignored me, though, and started talking about Emmett again.

Eventually it got late, and we helped Mrs. Hale with dinner. We fought about who had to set the table, just like always. Some things never change, I guess.

Jasper got home first, just as Mrs. Hale was taking dinner out of the oven.

He had spotted Rose's car outside, and he walked inside calling for us.

Rosalie ran over to him and hugged him before he could barely get in the door. "Jazz! I missed you baby brother," she said, placing a kiss on his cheek.

He was only a few years younger than her, and he rolled his eyes at the baby comment. "Missed you too, sis," he laughed. "And there's my other sis," he said, spotting me in the doorway to the kitchen.

I laughed, because I loved being included as part of the Hale family. I loved Charlie, but since Mom had died I had always wanted to be part of a big family.

He let go of Rose and came over to me, hugging me.

I wrapped my arms around him, and he kissed my forehead. "How you doing, Bella?"

"Great," I smiled at him. He looked older than I remembered, and more handsome. His blue eyes sparkled as he gave me a lazy grin. There was something so calming and easy about Jasper Hale, you couldn't help but relax around him.

Mr. Hale arrived a few minutes later, and he hugged us both and commented on how we looked as good as ever, and that he was glad to see us.

Charlie was the last one in the door, a few minutes later.

I walked over to the door to greet him. He looked a bit older than I remembered, which worried me a bit. I did spend a lot of time worrying about Charlie, since I'd left home. I had more or less taken care of him, doing the cooking and cleaning and shopping since I had been old enough to take on the responsibility, and now that I was gone I had no way of knowing if he was being properly fed and taken care of. If the Hale's weren't around to check up on him, I don't know what I would have done.

But other than looking older, he looked good, healthy, and I smiled, as he hugged me. He wasn't really very affectionate, so I was always surprised when he did that sort of thing. "It's great to see you, Bells," he said honestly. "You look good."

I smiled. "It's great to see you too, Dad."

Dinner was really nice, all of us catching up. Afterwards we all said goodbyes, and Charlie and I walked back to our house.

Everything was the same, of course. I would be shocked if I ever came home and the house was different, and I smiled at the familiarity. It was nice to know that somethings didn't change.

We were both tired, so we said our goodnights, and he told me that he was happy to see me again, and we headed up to bed.

I went into my same old room, and crawled under the purple comforter I'd had since I was a teenager, and fell asleep.

"Tell me about this boyfriend of yours," Charlie said, at dinner the next evening.

"Boyfriend?" Jacob asked, looking at me and grinning.

I had spent the first half of the day with Rosalie, hanging out at the Hale's house again. Eventually Mrs. Hale had suggested that we all go get manicures, and I had opted out, letting the two of them go spend some mother and daughter time.

So while they were out having girl time I headed down to see the rest of my old friends. I had headed to the garage, where Sam had greeted with me a hug, telling me I looked great and Jake was in the office.

The office door had been open, Jacob with his back to the door, so I crept up behind him and thrown myself at him. I had scared him half to death, even though he denied it now.

He had been happy to see me, of course, and I had persuaded him to come to dinner.

Jacob was my best friend, aside from Rosalie. We had dated during our senior year, but we had broken up before I left for college, deciding it was easier to be friends, and that had worked just fine for us since then. We had been best friends ever since.

"You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!" Jacob said, enjoying my discomfort at the subject.

I groaned. "Dad I've already told you about him."

"No, you just said you were dating someone. Is it serious?"

I couldn't believe he asking me these questions. He usually didn't care much about my boyfriends. "I guess so," I said, defeated.

"Whoa, wait, not just a boyfriend a _serious _boyfriend?" Jacob, of course.

Charlie took a drink of his water and eyed my skeptically. "Didn't you say something about him being...famous?"

"Er. His family is...well....rich."

"What?" Jacob asked me, flatly.

"This is why I don't tell you things!" I shot back at him.

He just grinned, reaching over to pat my knee. "It's s'kay, Bella. You can give me all the details now."

I blushed, staring at my food. "There's not much to say, really. Edward and I met at this party his family was throwing for him-he had just passed the bar-"

"A lawyer?" Jacob rolled his eyes.

I ignored him. "Rosalie had to cover the job, and she needed someone to go along, so she asked me. We went. Edward and I danced and, uh, we didn't, well, get along at first. But Edward's older brother, Emmett, asked Rosalie out, and somehow the four of us ended up on a double date. It took me and Edward a while, but eventually we became friends, and started dating."

"And?" Charlie, this time.

I sighed. "And I like him. A lot. We're...serious, I guess. I met his parents a few weeks ago, and he told me that he's going to come for Thanksgiving with me."

Charlie didn't look too enuthusastic about that. "I'm glad you're coming here, for Thanksgiving."

I smiled. "Me too. I know I'm leaving tomorrow night, but at least I'll be back in just a few weeks."

With that Charlie was satisfied and we spent the rest of dinner discussing what Jacob was up too, and about my job. After dinner Charlie went to watch the ballgame and Jacob and I did the dishes. When we had finished we walked outside and sat on the old porch swing.

"So. Your boyfriend is rich," He finally said.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Very rich, I'm afraid." I sighed. "I wish he wasn't. I went to his house when I met his parents...and I think they have more money than I even imagined at the beginning. I like him a lot. I mean, I think I'm falling in love with him, and I think he feels the same way about me-I mean why else would he waste his time-but it's just...he lives in a completely different world than I do. A world that I don't know anything about, and I just...it's kind of confusing. I try not to think about it, for the most part. Sometimes it's hard to ignore though."

"Well I haven't met the guy," Jacob said. "But I don't think I'd let a little money get in your way of happiness."

I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. "Yeah, I guess so."

He smiled at me, and I smiled back, leaning my head against his chest. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"I wish you were staying longer, Bells."

"Yeah, me too," I said, but truthfully, I wanted to be back in New York City. Edward had called last night but we had both been tired-he was working on a hard case that was keeping him up late-and had only talked for a moment. I missed him. "But," I said, brightly. "I'll be back for Thanksgiving. You'll come to dinner, won't you? I know you usually eat with the Clearwaters, but it'd be great if you'd come eat with us and the Hale's. And you'll get to meet Emmett and Edward."

He grinned. "Sure, Bells, I'll come to your Thanksgiving."

"Great," I smiled back at him.

Jacob left after a while, and we said our goodbyes that night. I went inside and said goodnight to Charlie.

The next morning the Hales and Charlie and I had a big brunch at the diner, and walked around talking and window shopping for most of the afternoon. Finally Rosalie and I had to leave. We packed up our car and said our tearful goodbyes to our family.

Mr. and Mrs. Hale hugged me and told me they couldn't wait to see us again at Thanksgiving. Jasper hugged me and grinned, telling me he'd see me around, and finally all that was left was Charlie.

I hugged him, and he smiled at me. "I'm glad you came to see me, kid. Take care of yourself, okay?"

I smiled back. "I will. See you soon!"

And just like that Rosalie and I were headed back to the city. Neither of us said a whole lot on the way, both of us lost in own thoughts about family we were leaving behind and the men waiting for us when we got home.

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	14. Meeting The Family

I'm separating the Holiday into at least two possibly three chapters. I was going to cover all of it, or at least all of it in Edward's pov in one chapter. But it's a lot to cover, and I really wanted to get this out here. Hopefully the rest will be up finished and up soon.

As always thanks so much for everyone that reviewed/alerted/favorited. We are SO close to 100 chapters, and that just blows my mind. Thank you all so much.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen.

Meeting The Family.

Edward.

While Bella was out of town visiting her family, I went apartment hunting. I had tried to avoid the house as much as possible, opting to spend most of my free time with Bella. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

I spent three days with my Realtor, Jessica Stanley, looking at apartment after apartment while she listed off their finer points. It hadn't taken long before they all just sort of blended together. By the third day I had picked the first place we had looked up, just wanting to find _something _so I wouldn't have to do it anymore.

Two days later I was renting my very own apartment.

I spent the weekend, with Emmett's help, moving in. The walls were all white, and I was fine with it, not wanting to take the time to paint. I knew I wouldn't spend much time here anyway, not with all the work I had going on.

It was a pretty small apartment, I guess. It had a living room/dining room, a kitchen that was big enough for one person to stand in-not that I ever cooked-and my bedroom. It was all I needed.

My new bedroom looked nearly identical to my former one, since I had just brought all my furniture from home. I probably should have gone out and bought all new stuff, but I just wanted to move in and get it all over with.

I did go out and by new living room furniture and some other basics for the place. In the end I was pretty happy with how it looked. It was sleek and modern, and it felt more like home than my parents house did.

My biggest purchase for the house was a new piano. I probably could have taken mine from home, but that just seemed...wrong, somehow. So I had gone out and bought a new one, which was sitting proudly in my living room. It took up a ridiculous amount of space, but I didn't care.

When Bella got back to the city from visiting her father and we both had an evening off of work, I took her to the apartment.

She was shocked at first that I had moved out, in a weekend like that, without mentioning it to her, but she had recovered quickly. She exclaimed over everything in the apartment and teased me about the pizza boxes already littering my kitchen and my inability to cook.

We ended up cuddling on my new couch to watch a movie together. It was one of the nicest dates we'd ever had, if I do say so myself. No Rosalie or Emmett hanging around, none of my parents or Alice. Nope, just the two of us.

I loved just holding her in my arms, cuddled against my chest, breathing in that strawberry scent that was Bella, and she leaned her ear against my heart and listened to it beat. We had fallen asleep on the couch before the movie was over and woke up in the middle of the night when my new neighbors got into a huge fight in the apartment next to mine. They were throwing things and screaming at each other.

It had startled us both, but when we had figured out what was going on we had listened in and laughed for a while, before finally falling back asleep. It was too late for Bella to try to drive home at that point.

She woke up early though and headed back to her apartment so she could get ready for work.

The rest of the week went pretty much the same. Whenever we weren't working we were together, usually at my apartment, eating, watching movies, hanging out. I was getting to know her better than ever and I loved everything I learned about her. I knew that her favorite color was green, that she loved to read, especially the classics, that she had started a newspaper when she was just a little kid. Rosalie had helped her and she had written who had crushes on who in school, and Bella had reported the 'hard hitting news' like what was really being served for lunch. As if I hadn't been head over heels enough before that.

Today, however, I found myself eating dinner at my parents house with Emmett and Alice. I'm not really sure how I ended up here, but somehow I had. Bella was working overtime on a story, so she hadn't been able to come along with me, though I had tried to talk her into it, even as my mother frowned as she lingered in the kitchen, listening to me make my calls.

"So, for Thanksgiving," Esme said, reaching for her glass of wine. "I was thinking that we could have this big family dinner, of course. But afterwards-"

"I won't be here," I told her mildly, reaching for my own wine glass.

She set her wine glass down with enough force to make the wine jostle against the sides. She frowned at me. "What do you mean? Where else will you be?"

"With Bella. She's visiting her family outside of the city, and I'm going with her."

Esme stared at me, opening her mouth and shutting it, then opening it again. Instead of saying anything she turned to Emmett with accusing eyes. "Are you going too?!"

He looked up, his mouth full of the chicken we were having for dinner. He reached for his glass of water and washed his food down. "No, I'm not going," he finally said. "But only because I'm swamped with work. I won't be here for dinner though. I won't have time. I'll be lucky if I have enough time to eat a turkey sandwich."

She frowned, and glanced at Alice sharply. "You'd better not have any other plans?"

"Me? Nope," Alice chirped, with a shrug.

Esme finally turned back to me. "I suppose there's no changing your mind."

"No," I agreed, shaking my head.

She sighed, and glanced at Carlisle, as if she was waiting for him to say something, but he didn't. He just shrugged. "The three of us will have a nice Holiday."

She huffed. "When are you leaving?"

"Wednesday."

"Fine. Have a good...Holiday," she said grudgingly, still upset.

The news really went over better than I had expected it too. I had figured that she would throw a big fit that I was spending Thanksgiving with Bella and not them. I was pleasantly surprised, and I left that night feeling a little bit better about my family.

----

Rosalie, Bella and I left Wednesday morning. We ended up taking Rosalie's car. Our stuff, even if it was just for three days, filled up the truck and a good portion of the backseat. Rosalie drove, no questions asked. Somehow neither one of us wanted to ask to drive. She expected me to ride in the backseat, but Bella had just looked at my legs and laughed. "Yeah right, Rose. I'll ride in the back," and then she had given me a look daring me to argue. So I rode in shotgun while Bella sat in the back seat and slept.

I won't say it wasn't a little bit awkward riding with Rose. I had been around her a lot, but I really couldn't think of many times that we had ever really spoken to each other directly. She made some small talk, but eventually we both gave up and turned up the radio loud enough that the silence between us wouldn't be awkward.

It wasn't too long of a drive, and we got there about three o'clock.

Bella and Rosalie had been right-it was a small town. I don't really know what I had been expecting, but this wasn't it. There was a bank, a post office, two churches and a few little stores littering main street. And the school. And that was it.

"Blink and you'll miss it," Bella quipped cheerfully, having finally woken up about an hour ago.

It was true, and I grinned back at her.

Rosalie parked in the car in front of two houses. One was large and blue, the other was chipped white and a bit smaller. There was a police car parked in front of the white house, and a honda in front of the other.

"Home sweet home," Rosalie annouced, shutting off the car and reached for her door handle. She jumped out of the car and towards the door of the blue house.

Bella laughed and rolled her eyes, getting out. I followed her, and she laughed at me, looking so awkward and out of place.

"It won't be that bad."  
"I know it won't," I smiled to reassure her. "You're here. And how bad can people that love you be?"

She stared at me for a moment, before her face broke into a smile. She turned to look at the police cruiser. "I guess Charlie is home."

"Great," I smiled sheepishly.

She slapped my shoulder and pointed towards the trunk. "Bags," she ordered, her brown eyes sparkling.

I bowed. "Your wish is my command."

She snickered, coming over to help me with the bags anyway. I took as many as I could count and told her I'd come back for them, but she just rolled her eyes at me and grabbed the remaining bags, leading the way up to her house.

"We'll go meet Rose's family in a little bit," she told me, hesitating at the front door, like she was trying to decide whether she should walk straight in or knock on the door. In the end she bit her lip and knocked.

It took a minute or two, but finally someone opened the front door, and there standing in front of us was Charlie Swan.

He was average, I guess. Average height, average weight, average look about him. He was starting to bald, but the hair he still had was brown and thick, like Bella's. His eyes were brown, but a less expressive shade of it. He grinned when he saw his daughter.

"Bells," he grinned, and she grinned back, setting her bags down to hug him.

She pulled back and was about to grab the bags up again, but he snatched them from her before she could protest.

And then he turned to look at me. I could feel his eyes running up and down me, studying me. I tried to look relaxed, and smiled. Really, I should be used to be under scuitiny.

"Dad, this is Edward Cullen. Edward, this is my father. Charlie."

"Nice to meet you, sir," I said politely, setting my bags down so I could shake his hand.

"You too," he said, though it sounded like he wasn't a hundred percent convinced.

"Come in guys," he moved away from the door and carried the bags inside, setting them down on the floor in the living room. I followed and did the same thing, glancing around the house.

It sort of reminded me of the houses you see you sitcoms. A little outdated, a little mismatched, and a little bit messy. There were pictures hanging everywhere though, mostly all of Bella, and I knew that he was proud of his little girl.

As he should be.

I would have to get a closer look at those pictures later. Bella would probably never willingly show me pictures of her as a baby or child.

From there we all did a bit of awkward small talk, and Bella interrupted saying she wanted to introduce me to the Hales. She jumped up and grabbed my hand, leading me to the door. Charlie said he'd see us later tonight for dinner.

She nodded and we walked across the lawn to the Hale's.

Rosalie answered the door with a grin, letting us into the house.

A woman, who looked like an older Rosalie, basically, came running over to me and threw her arms around me. "Hi!"

I chuckled, patting her back. "Hello."

She pulled back to arms length, her blue eyes looking me over. "I'm Amaylee Hale."

"Edward Cullen."

She grinned. "I know."

I smiled meekly.

Bella just laughed. The noise brought Mrs. Hale back to the present and she turned to give Bella a giant hug, whispering something in her ear that made Bella laugh.

"Hey, Rose!" A blond kid said, walking into the living room from the back of the house. Well, maybe he wasn't a kid. He looked about Alice's age, I guess. He had messy blond hair and blue eyes. Rosalie's brother.

Rosalie grinned and threw her arms around him. "Hi!" She exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

He laughed and kissed her cheek before coming over to Bella. "There's my little sis."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm older," she said matter of factly.

He tossed his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "I'm bigger."

She shook her head and grinned, slapping his shoulder playfully. She pulled away from his hug and turned to me. "Jasper, this is my boyfriend, Edward Cullen, Edward, Jasper Hale."

He stuck his hand out. "Nice to meet you, Cullen."

"You too," I said, shaking his hand.

Later I met their father, a tall blond man who looked a lot like Jasper. They were a gorgeous family. We all ate dinner at the Hale's, with Charlie, of course. Mrs. Hale gushed about how cute Bella and I were together, and sighed over the fact that Emmett hadn't been able to make it too. We talked about the city, and my job, and Rose and Bella's job. It was an extremely nice dinner, and so different from the ones that we'd had at home. No one was tense, no one was pretending. Everyone was themselves and everyone was happy.

We got back to the Swan's late. Charlie went up to bed, and I was starting to lay my stuff out on the couch when Bella sighed behind me.

I turned around to look at her, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

"Let me talk the couch. You can have my room. It looks so uncomfortable out here. You should just-"  
"Bella. I'm not taking your bed," I told her matter of factly. "So go upstairs and I'll see you in the morning." I wasn't taking no for an answer.

She sighed but leaned into kiss me. "See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight," I laughed, kissing her again.

She grinned at me, laughing as she went up the stairs to her room.

I didn't sleep too good on the couch. It was old and lumpy and it didn't smell fantastic. But I got enough sleep. I woke up before Bella or her father, so I got up, changed into jeans and a plain black t-shirt and went into the kitchen.

It was a Cullen tradition to have these amazing cinnamon rolls everything Thanksgiving for breakfast. I definitely wasn't sorry that I was here and not with my family, but it would be nice to have something familiar.

Our cook at the time, Heidi, taught me to make the cinnamon rolls when I was younger. It was the only thing I could and would cook. They took a while to make, but I didn't mind.

It took me a few minutes to find everything I needed, and then I set straight to work. I hoped I could have them done and everything cleaned up before Bella got up.

I was almost done with the clean up when Bella did walk into the kitchen. She was wearing little black shorts and a yellow tank top. Her hair was pulled into a messy tank top, with a lot of it falling into her face. She looked completely different and completely hot.

She stopped at the entrance to the kitchen upon spotting me. Her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped a bit. "What are you doing?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Making breakfast."

"I thought you couldn't cook," she accused.

"Well, I really can't. These are the only thing I can make," I said, nodding to the oven where my cinnamon rolls were cooking. I would just have to put the icing on when they were done.

She sniffed the air and smiled. "Cinnamon rolls?"

"Yep. Cullen Thanksgiving Tradition. Happy Thanksgiving, by the way."

"Happy Thanksgiving to you too. And it smells amazing," she said, shaking her head and smiling. "I can't believe this. Edward Cullen is in my house, in my kitchen, making breakfast." Her face was expressionless for a moment and then she burst out laughing. Hysterically.

I stared at her, dragging a hand through my hair. "What's so funny?"

Bella was laughing too hard. She tried to tell me, but just started laughing harder. She wrapped her arms around her stomach. "Oh...it...hurts," she said, between laughs.

"It can't be that funny," I protested. Okay, so most people never saw me cook. But it really couldn't be _that _funny.

The laughing finally subsided, but she still gripped her middle. "It's just...I don't know. I can't believe it. I guess I'm happy."

"Or crazy," I told her, grinning.

"Hey!" she protested playfully. She came over to the oven and opened the door a bit to look inside. "They smell amazing."

"They'll taste amazing too," I said confidently.

She shut the oven door and smirked. "So what do you think of my home?"

"It's nice here, Bella," I told her. And it was. It was so quiet and so...peaceful. There was no traffic, no taxi, no police sirens in the middle of the night. Charlie seemed like a nice enough guy and he hadn't talked to me about dating his daughter yet, though I knew it was coming. The Hale's were really nice too. "I like it here."

She smiled at me. "Well I'm going to start cooking dinner in a little bit. The Hale's are all coming over here, and so is my friend, Jake."

"Sounds good," I said, wondering about her friend. She hadn't mentioned him before, I was pretty sure. "Do you need my help?"

"In the kitchen?" she grinned. "Thanks but no thanks. You'll get to watch football with Charlie, Mr. Hale, Jasper and Jake."

"I think I might rather help in the kitchen."

She slapped my arm playfully. "Oh please. It'll be fine. Now I'm going to go get dressed."

"Okay," I agreed, as she ran back up the stairs to her room. I turned to pull the cinnamon rolls out of the oven, and iced them. I was setting them down to cool when Bella came back down in jeans, and a long sleeved shirt and her hair pulled back into a tidy bun.

"I thought you said we got dressed up for Thanksgiving," I asked her.

"Oh, we do. I'll change once dinner is ready, but I don't want to spill anything on my dress."

Charlie came down the stairs, and the three of us ate breakfast. Both Charlie and Bella-especially Bella-complimented me on my baking-or Cinnamon roll making-skills.

"I want the recipe," she decided, reaching for a second. "Or you should teach me how to make them."

I smiled, taking a sip of my coffee. "Sure thing. I'll teach you as soon as you become a Cullen." The words shocked me a bit, but it seemed like such a natural thing to say, a natural thing to happen. Yes, I had to admit myself, I liked the idea of her becoming a Cullen.

Her brown eyes went wide, and she stared at me for a moment, grasping for something to say in response.

Charlie raised a dark eyebrow at me, and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then shook his head.

Finally Bella seemed to compose herself. She reached for her coffee and smiled at me. "I'll hold you to that."

I smiled back. "Good."

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Rosalie burst through the door without knocking. Her arms were loaded with pans and different foods. She came into the kitchen and dropped them onto the counter. "Ooh, food," she said, coming over to sit beside Bella, grabbing one of the rolls. She took a bite and grinned. "Bella, these are your best yet."

"I didn't make them," she said calmly, watching her friend with an amused expression.

Rosalie turned to face her. "What? Who did then?"

"Edward."

"Edward?"

I laughed. "Thanks for the confidence, Rose."

She snorted. "Yeah well I've seen your apartment, and there's no food in the cupboards or fridge, just pizza boxes."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Where's your parents? and Jasper?"

"They should be here in a moment. Mom couldn't find the sweet potatoes, or something. And Jasper's breaking up with his current girlfriend," she rolled her eyes.

"On Thanksgiving?" Bella asked disapprovingly.

Rosalie shrugged. "I don't even know the girl, so I'm not gonna say anything about it."

Bella shrugged in a sort of agreement, and reached for her coffee again.

Mr. and Mrs. Hale finally arrived with Jasper not far behind. They were also carrying a ton of food, and Bella jumped up from the table to help sort of everything out.

"When is Jake going to be here?" Charlie asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure. Anytime, really," Bella said dismissively. "You guys should just go start watching tv, or you'll start getting in our way," she ordered.

Charlie smiled sheepishly, and Jasper and Mr. Hale headed towards the living room with a chorus of "yes ma'ams'!"

I looked nervously at Bella, because even though everyone seemed to be nice, I was sure to be grilled when I went into that living room with the men. I had never really been grilled by a parent before, when dating their daughter. I was Edward Cullen, I came from a long line of strong men and lawyers, and was rich. That's really all those parents had needed to know.

I doubted that Charlie or the Hale's cared about those things.

Bella smiled sympathetically at me and came over, standing on her tip-toes to kiss my forehead. "Go, Edward," she teased.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me. "I will, I will," I said distractingly. I brushed my lips against hers. She smiled against my lips and sucked my bottom lip. I had to hold back a moan and I suddenly remembered that Rosalie and Mrs. Hale were still in the room, and relucantly I pulled away.

Bella giggled nervously, and we both looked to our side to see Mrs. Hale and Rosalie grinning at us.

"Get a room," Rosalie ordered, with a laugh.

Bella turned bright red, and I smirked at her, leaning down to give her one more kiss on the forehead and headed into the living room with the other men.

Here goes nothing.

* * *

The next chapter will have much more Edward and Bella's family interaction. (:


	15. Thanksgiving

Eee! We passed the 100 review mark last chapter! That's seriously so exciting. Thanks so much guys!!!

This took longer than intended, but it is pretty long to make up for it. I also outlined NYF, and it's looking like there's going to be about five or six more chapters. After that I was planning on wrapping it up, but now I'm seriously considering doing a sequel. What do you guys think about that? Would you rather have an epilogue or a sequel?

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. Still.

Happy late Thanksgiving btw, guys. Hope you guys had a great Holiday.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen.

Bella.

"He looks terrified," Rosalie snickered, leaning against the kitchen counter.

I couldn't help but smile in agreement as I watched Edward walk slowly into the living room with Mr. Hale, Charlie and Jasper. He did look pretty terrified, I had to admit. It was cute.

Mrs. Hale smiled. "He's great, Bella. He really cares about you."

I turned away from the vegetables I was cutting to look at her. "You really think so?" I asked quietly. I was finally realizing that I was pretty insecure about how Edward felt about me. I knew he had dated a lot of girls. And I was okay with that. And I was well aware of the possibility that I would end up just like those girls, despite Edward's protests that I wasn't different. It's just that he was Edward Cullen and I was...Bella.

But he was here. He was sleeping on the couch in the house I grew up in. He was here, spending Thanksgiving with people that he didn't know. He had joked around this morning about me becoming 'Mrs. Cullen.' That meant there had to be more, right? That I really was different.

Mrs. Hale raised a perfect eyebrow. "You can't tell?"

I shrugged. "I know he cares about me. I guess I just have a hard time with how much. I mean he _is _Edward Cullen."

She smiled, a bit dreamily. "Yes, he is. And you're a _very _lucky girl."

We both turned to look at her, Rosalie's expression incredulous. "Oh, Mom," she groaned.

I just laughed. "So you approve?"

"Oh, definitely." She told me, winking. I burst into laughter while Rose stared at her, mortified.

"Mom, he's young enough to be your son."

Mrs. Hale shrugged, sprinkling some herbs onto the turkey. "But he's not."

Rosalie groaned again, covering her face with her hands.

"Hey, hands off," I said, between laughter. "He's mine."

Mrs. Hale winked again, and turned her attention back to the turkey.

I glanced over at Rosalie and she shook her head, making a disgusted face and going back to work on her pumpkin pie.

My attention wandered to the living room. "I wonder what they are saying to him."

"Oh, just Dad stuff," Mrs. Hale said dismissively. "What his intentions are towards you, and that speech about 'if you hurt my daughter I'll hurt you.' I'm sure Edward can handle, it," she added the last part a bit dryly and I couldn't help but grin. Edward was acting like this was much worse than it was. And it was pretty hilarious.

I was about to answer her, but there was a knock on the door. I set my knife down and grabbed a kitchen towel to wipe my hands on, walking to the door. I opened it, and looked up. And up.  
It was Jake.

I grinned as I finally landed on his face. I reached over and threw my arms around him, hugging him. "Hey!"

He laughed, wrapping his arms around me back. "Hey yourself. Happy Thanksgiving, Bells."

I pulled away, still grinning. "Happy Thanksgiving, Jake. Come inside," I grabbed his hand and led him into the kitchen.

Rosalie murmured a greeting. She and Jacob had never gotten along that well. She had nothing against Jake personally, she was just kind of...jealous. She had been really upset when I had started spending more time around him. They were both my best friends, and I knew Rosalie would rather that she was my only best friend. We were all used to it by now.

Jake responded equally politely, and Mrs. Hale greeted him much more cheerful.

"Want something to drink?" I asked him, walking over to the fridge.

"Yeah, sure. A coke would be great, thanks."

I grabbed a can and tossed it to him. He caught it, of course. "Thanks, kiddo."

"Hey, I'm older," I protested playfully, walking back to my cutting board.

He laughed. "So where's your boytoy?"

"In the living room," I said, ignoring the use of 'boytoy'.

He cracked open his coke can and took a drink, and then looked up at me with a grin. "Awesome."

"Be nice!" I ordered, as he disappeared into the living room.

Rosalie laughed. "He's going to be terrified to come back, Bella."

"That's what I'm afraid of," I growled, cutting up some carrots with a bit more force than necessary.

She and Mrs. Hale both laughed at me.

Edward.

The game was on, but I couldn't concrentrate on it. Not that I watched much football anyway. I didn't have time for it. and I wasn't much of a sports guy anyway. I wasn't about to admit that out loud though, especially not in this living room.

I was sitting on the couch between Mr. Hale and Charlie. Jasper was sitting in a recliner a few feet away. None of us said anything to each other. The only movement or noise was us reaching for a soda can or the open bag of chips sitting on the living room table, or cheering at a touchdown. Well, when they cheered at a touchdown. I wasn't sure who we were rooting for and I was not about to cheer for the wrong team.

We had been sitting there for a few minutes when someone knocked on the door, and then a few minutes later I heard Bella talking to the person. A few moments later, a _huge _guy walked into the living room.

I mean, he was huge. I was pretty tall guy, but this guy probably had at least a head on me. And he wasn't just tall, he was muscled and thick with a broad chest and shoulders. He had dark skin, and black eyes and black hair, cropped short.

He had to be Jacob.

Definitely _not _what was I expecting.

His eyes focused on me, of course. He looked me up and down, studying me. And then he came over to me and held out his hand. "Hey. Edward, right?"

I nodded, shaking his hand as firmly as I could manage. "Right. Jacob?"

He smirked a bit. "Yep, that's me." He let go of my hand and went to sit in the other recliner on the opposite side from Jasper.

It was quiet again in the living room. For a few minutes anyway.

It didn't last, of course.

"So, Edward," Charlie started, during a commerical break. "You're a lawyer?"

I nodded. "Yes, I am, sir."

He nodded, looking thoughtful. "You enjoy it?"

"Yes. I do. I've always known I wanted to be a lawyer."

"Apparently you're a bit of a celebrity."

I shrugged. "I don't know if I would go that far. I come from a really old family. The Cullen's have been in New York City for years and years. More than that, we've been around since the 1900s. My family's managed to keep their reputation."

"And the money?" Jacob threw in with a grin.

I smiled. "And the money."

Jasper ran a hand through his hair, looking at me thoughtfully. "My sister's sent me a lot of articles that she's written in the paper. Your family is mentioned constantly. It sounds like...you've been with a lot of girls?"

Charlie, Mr. Hale and Jacob turn to look at me sharply, and I'll be honest, it was kind of intimidating.

I swallowed hard. "It's not really like that. I have dated a lot of girls, I guess. But it was never went far with any of them. But not like I was using them, more in a sort of 'it's not working out' way. I never found someone worth really pursing."

"Until now?" Mr. Hale guessed lightly.

"Until now," I confirmed.

"So you're serious about Bella?" Charlie.

I nodded. "Yes. I am. I really am. I just...there's something there. I can completely-and easily-picture myself with Bella for the rest of my life."

They all looked a bit impressed, and I hoped that that would get me off the hook.

It didn't.

"Well then you know how we all feel about her," Charlie said, glancing at the other three men sitting in the room, who were all looking at me with stern glares now.

"Yes."

"Bella's important to everyone in this room. Very important. If anything ever happened to her, if anyone ever hurt and we found out that you-"

I shook my head, a bit horrified. Partly because he thought I would do that to Bella, and second because I couldn't believe I was getting this talk.

"I would _never _hurt her. She means way to much to me," I assured them.

They all nodded. "But just in case things change," Jacob said calmly. "Remember this talk. And who's sitting in this room." His expression changed from calm to menacing, and I had to admit that it got the point across. Jacob was freaking huge. Not to mention the other three men sitting in this room.

"Uh, definitely," I muttered, and Charlie chuckled, before turning his attention back to the TV screen. That was the last word said about anything other than football or the commericals, and I let out a sigh of relief and finally felt myself relax.

During the first quarter of the next game-the house smelling _amazing-_Bella came into the living room. She had changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, red ballet flats and a red wrap around top that showed off her figure perfectly. Her brown waves were pulled back from her face, and she was wearing a bit of makeup that made her face glow in the dark light.

Gorgeous. She's so gorgeous.

"Dinner is almost ready," she announced in a cheerful tone. "So Charlie, Edward, go change," she glanced at Jasper and Mr. Hale and nodded at their clothes, then her eyes landed on Jake and narrowed, taking in his dark jeans and graphic t-shirt.

"Well," she said lightly. "There's no hope for you anyway."

Jacob burst out laughing, along with Jasper and Charlie.

"Love you too, Bells," he called after her as she turned back to the kitchen, still grinning.

Muttering Charlie headed up the stairs to change, and I went up to the bathroom to change as well. Rosalie had informed me that Bella would be wearing red and black for the Holidays, and that I was to do the same, so I was wearing nice jeans, a black dress shirt and a red tie.

When I was changed I headed straight into the kitchen.

It had been transformed. The lights were dimmed, and there were candles lighting up the table. The dingy kitchen table now had a table cloth, place mats and fancy holiday plates. The food was laid out, and there was _so _much of it. Not food like Esme's cook made us, but real food, a brown crispy looking turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmellows on top, cranberry sauce, rolls, a salad, a green bean casserole. Yeah, like I said, a _lot _of food.

"Wow. This looks amazing," I said.

Bella turned around to look at me, her face breaking into a grin as she took me and my clothes in. "We match."

"Yeah, I guess we do," I grinned back at her, leaning over to brush my lips against hers.

"Thanks, by the way. About the food. I know it probably pales in comparison to what you'd be having at home and-"

I cut her off, shaking my head. "Bella, this has and is going to be the best Thanksgiving I've ever had."

She shook her head, and I knew she didn't believe me, but it was the truth. Somehow the feeling of...family and ...love was tangible here. I could see it in the everyone looked at each other, the way they all acted. Everyone here was close. And Bella and Rosalie and Mrs. Hale loved everyone enough to slave over stove all day to make an amazing homecooked meal. This was a real Thanksgiving, not what I'd had all those years. This was so much better.

"I'm serious," I insisted, and she just smiled and kissed me quickly.

Everyone was coming into the kitchen then, and commenting on how good everything looked and smelled, and soon we were all being seated at the table. I was sitting in between Rosalie and Bella, across from Jake and Jasper.

"Let's say Grace," Charlie said, reaching for Mrs. Hale and Rosalie's hand. Rosalie grabbed mine and I grabbed Bella's, squeezing her hand.

Charlie said a nice and simple grace, and everyone dug into the food, passing it around. Everyone was laughing and aruging, wanting the turkey first, or Jake yelling at Jasper not to take all of the marshmellows off of the sweet potatoes.

It was so different from everything Thanksgiving I had in memory. We had hardly even talked.

Once everyone had their food, the table grew quieter as everyone started to eat. Everyone complimented the girls on the food, and eventually the conversation picked up. Jake asked Bella about the paper, and she grinned as she explained all about her job and her latest stories to him.

Mrs. Hale asked about my being a lawyer, and that got everyone into a discussion of what they wanted to be when they were kids.

"Well everyone in my family is either a doctor or a lawyer. All the men at least. So I always planned on becoming a lawyer," I more or less repeated what I had told Mr. Hale earlier with a shrug, glancing at Bella, because I was curious to hear what she would say.

She grinned, glancing at her Dad. "I wanted to be a doctor."

Almost on cue everyone at the table but me snorted.

"You?" Jake asked, grinning. "The girl that faints at a drop of blood-"

"Shut up," she said cheerfully, shoving the bowl of mashed potatoes at him so he would get distracted and his mouth would be full.

"What about you, Princess?" Bella threw at Rosalie, who had a hand over her mouth suppressing her laughter at Jake's comments.

"As a matter of fact, I did want to be a Princess," she said with a smirk.

Jasper, Bella, Jake and I all groaned. Mrs. Hale just shrugged and smiled.

"Tell us something we don't know," Bella mumbled, turning to ask Jasper.

"I heard that!" Rosalie said, leaning forward to look at Bella around me. Her blue eyes narrowed into a glare, and I'll be honest, it even scared me a little bit and everyone started laughing again.

"I'm so full," Bella said, pushing her plate away, declining the thirds that were currently being passed around.

"Me too," Rosalie groaned. "I never want to see food again."

"But we have like...seven pies," Bella reminded her.

"I never want to see any food but pies," Rosalie corrected herself.

"I'm out too," I decided.

"Wimp," Jake retorted, reaching for what I was pretty sure was his fifths.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Oh, just ignore him. He could probably eat everything on this table by himself. Freak."

"Short person."

"Glad only one of them is actually mine," Charlie said, rolling his eyes, as he got up to put his plate in the sink.

Bella got up too, reaching for her plate, and then reaching out for mine.

"I can do it, Bell-"

She smiled. "It's fine, Edward. I don't mind. Why don't you guys go watch TV? We'll finish this up and then we'll come watch Santa Clause with you guys."

Rosalie made a disgusted sound. "The Santa Clause? Seriously, Bella, again?"

"It's tradition," Bella said firmly, dropping all of the plates she'd collected into the sink.

"Come on, Bella, I want to help," I said. I would rather stay in here with her.

She smiled. "All right then," she walked past me and I grabbed her hand, guiding her back to me, and leaned over to kiss her real quick.

She laughed and kissed me back, earning us a series of whistles and "oohs!"

She pulled away blushing, walking back over to the sink.

"Good for you man," Jake said, clapping me on the back.

These people were way too much. I grinned back at him and went to the sink to help Bella, while Rosalie and Mrs. Hale started taking care of the leftovers, and putting them into the fridge.

"The food was amazing, baby," I told Bella. We decided that I'd wash and she'd dry. It was really nice, actually, standing there watching dishes with her, working as a team. I wouldn't admit that to her, though. I didn't want her to get any ideas when it came to me and dishes.

"Thank you," she smiled up at me.

We finished up the dishes and the leftovers and the four of us went back into the living room, where Jake was putting a tape into the VCR. Yeah, they still owned a VCR.

Pretty much everyone was sitting on the couch, so I walked over to one of the over sized chairs and sat down. Bella came over and squeezed in between me and the arm rest, leaning her head against my chest and entwining her hand with mine.

And we sat there and watched the movie together.

After the movie and pie-and she wasn't kidding about there being seven pies-the Hale's and Jake announced they needed to be getting home. Bella handed out leftovers to both of them, and everyone hugged. Bella and Jake had a long goodbye hug, because they wouldn't get a chance to spend anymore time together on this visit home.

Once they had left Charlie said he was going to bed, and that left Bella and I.

"Let's go sit outside," she suggested, looking around for her coat. she finally got it and pulled it on over her shoulders and reached for my hand.

I found my own coat and grabbed it, following her out onto the front porch. There was an old white wooden swing, and she went over and sat down on it. I sat down on it beside her.

"Charlie made this swing," she told me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

She nodded, smiling. It really was a nice night out here. It was chilly, but dark and crisp. "He made it for my Mom," she said softly.

I tried to imagine a younger Charlie building a porch swing for his young wife. I wondered what she-Bella's mother-looked like. Like Bella, I guess. Probably short and thin, with brown hair and brown eyes. I smiled at the picture in my mind, of Charlie and Bella's mother young and in love.

"I meant it earlier."

She turned to look at me, glowing in the pale porch light. "What?"

"When I mentioned you becoming a Cullen. I mean that."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

I smiled softly. "I want you to become a Cullen someday."

"Really?"

"Of course."

"You're not...about to propose or something, are you?" she asked, looking unsure.

"Not unless you want me too."

I reached over and brushed her hair back out of her face. "Don't you want to become a Cullen someday?"

She swallowed hard, and my heart was pounding, waiting for her answer and praying it would be the one I wanted.

"I don't want to be a Cullen."

My heart sank. "What?"

"I want to be Mrs. Edward Cullen. Not just a Cullen."

"Scare me to death why don't you," I said, my heart still pounding. She wanted to marry me. She wanted to marry me. The words sounded amazing in my head.

She smiled. "Sorry," she said without a hint of apology. "You'd better mean what you said though, when I do become Mrs. Edward Cullen-" that sounded too amazing "-I want that recipe."

I laughed, and she laughed with me, leaning closer to me. She leaned her head against my chest, and I ran my fingers through her hair, smoothing it back from her face. "I promise," I murmured. "And Bella? This really was the best Thanksgiving I've ever had."

I could feel her lips curl into a smile. "I think it was my favorite Thanksgiving too."

"I love you, Bella Swan."

"I love you, Edward Cullen."

* * *

I have to say, this is definitely my favorite chapter so far. Thanks for reading!


	16. Back To Work

Four more chapters and then a sequel. (:

Dislcaimer: I don't own twilight.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen.

Edward's POV.

The next morning I slept in later then I ever remembered sleeping in. It was two pm when I finally opened my eyes and glanced at the clock. I felt a startling golt when I saw what time it was, and then grinned as yesterday came flooding back to me.

I sat up and pushed the blankets aside, heading to the kitchen, figuring I would probably find Bella or Charlie, but I didn't see either anywhere. I glanced out the window and I noticed Charlie's police cruiser was missing, and when I glanced back at the kitchen I realized there was a pot of coffee. I poured two mugs and headed up the stairs, finding Bella's room. I knocked first, but when there was no answer I opened the door.

Sure enough, she was still asleep, tangled in a purple comforter and purple sheets. Her hair was all over the place, and one of her pillows was way down at the foot of the bed.

I set the coffee down on the nightstand beside her bed and went and sat on the edge of the bed. I leaned over and brushed my lips against hers, brushing brown curls out of her eyes.

"Wake up, love," I murmured, kissing her again.

Finally I felt her lips press against my own. She pulled away after a second and grinned at me. "That's a nice way to be woken up," she murmured before leaning in for another kiss.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Two."

"In the afternoon?" she said, her eyes widening. "Seriously?"

I laughed. "Yup. Here I brought you some coffee," I said, handing her one of the mugs. She smiled and took it from me, taking a long gulp.

"Thank you," she said, smiling.

I turned away from her and glanced around the room. It was painted a light shade of blue, and there was a big desk in the corner with a serious ancient computer. "Nice computer," I commented.

She laughed. "Don't knock it, that computer is where I decided that I was going to become a writer. It's pratically a part of the family," she teased.

I smiled. There was a bulletin board above it, full of pictures and ticket stubs. There was an old rocking chair in another corner, that was covered in clothes. I wondered if it was clothes that had been here for years, or clothes she had brought with her on vacation. Her bed was small, and there was a purple comforter with black flowers on it. There was a bookshelf full-and I mean full-of books, and some childhood toys and stuffed animals.

It was all her. Her childhood. I smiled, and turned to look at her.

She set the coffee aside, and grinned up at me. "Thanks so much for coming for Thanksgiving. It was great."

I leaned over and kissed her, tasting her coffee. "It was great. I had a great time. I'm glad I came too."

She smiled. "We're leaving tonight?"

I nodded. "I wish we could stay longer, but I've got to get back to work."

"No, it's fine," she said, pausing to yawn. "I have to get back to work too. The news doesn't just stop for the Holidays. In fact I'll have even more work than usual when I get home."

"What are you planning for Christmas?" I asked, as it suddenly occurred to me that she might be planning on coming back here for Christmas. "I mean, what do you usually do?"

She shrugged. "I usually come here."

Of course she did. I knew that was going to be her answer.

"But this year I was thinking that I might stay in the city," she said causally, shrugging again.

I smiled. "Oh really? Why is that?"

"There's a certain someone in the city that I think I'd like to spend Christmas with."

"A certain someone, huh?"

She laughed, and kissed me. "Yeah. I just have to find out if he wants to spend Christmas with me."

"Well, I think he would be thrilled." I smiled "You really want to spend Christmas with me? In the city?"

She nodded. "Yes, I really do."

"You'll have to spend it with my family," I warned, thinking of Esme. I would just have to talk to her about this. I wasn't going to have her ruin my Christmas with Bella.

"Okay." she agreed easily.

"And there's one other thing."

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" she encouraged.

"My parents throw a Christmas party-"

"The Cullen's Christmas Party. Yeah I know, Rosalie goes every year to cover it for the paper."

I nodded. "Yeah that's the one. You'll be my date this year, right?"

Her eyes widened. "What? Me? Really?"

I laughed. "Yes, you. Who else would I take?"

"I don't know. I just...it's...a high society affair."

"So? You'll be with me, and it'll be great. Besides, taking you to a real affair will show people that you and I really an item, and that you aren't going anywhere. It'll be a great coming out party for you," I groaned inwardly as soon as I said that. "I mean, if you want too. You don't have to be in the spotlight, of course, if you don't want too. It won't be easy, but we can keep us more private, you can stay more private."

"No," she shook her head. "If I'm going to be Mrs. Edward Cullen someday I have to get used to this stuff, right? This is a good place to start, you're right. I'd love to go with you, Edward."

"Really?" I smiled.

"Really," she confirmed with a nod.

"I love you," I kissed her again.

She laughed. "I love you too. And now I'm going to take a shower and get dressed before Rosalie comes knocking on our door complaining it's almost time to leave and that we need to hurry up." She kissed me again before getting out of bed and gathering up some clothes.

Charlie came home a few hours later, as Rosalie, Bella and I were putting our bags into Rosalie's car. Bella walked over to him, and Rose and I stood out of the way so they could say their good byes. They talked for a few minutes, and finally they hugged, and said good byes that I'm guessing were a bit tearful, even if neither one would admit it. The Hale's came out as well, and Mr. Hale shook my hand and told him it was nice to meet me, and wished me and Bella luck. Mrs. Hale hugged me and told me to take care of her 'other daughter.' and I couldn't but smile as I agreed.

"Where's my brother?" Rosalie asked, after she and Bella had hugged the Hale's as well. She turned to her parents as I walked over to Charlie.

"It was nice to meet you, sir," I said, holding out my hand.

"You too, kid," he said, shaking my hand. His gaze turned to Bella and then back to me. "Take good care of her?"

I nodded. "I will. I promise."

Jasper emerged from the house then, and he had a backpack slung over his shoulder. "You guys got room for one more? I need a break. Some time in the city would be great." He looked...kind of depressed. Not happy and carefree like he had been yesterday.

"Where do you think you're going to stay?" Rosalie asked, shaking her head. "Me and Bella don't have room for you. Why do you want to go anyway?"

"Charlotte and I broke up," he said quietly.

"He can stay with me," I said quickly. "I've got enough room, and it's not like I'm ever there anyway."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Sure."

He turned to look at Rose. "What do you say?"

She frowned, and sighed. "Oh fine. Get in the car."

He said good bye to his parents and promised that he'd be back soon, he just needed to get away, and jumped into the backseat with Bella. The four of us waved as we drove away, and I had to admit I was sorry to be leaving as well. It had been a great vacation. I really loved Bella's family.

It was really late when we got back to the City, and Rosalie dropped me and Jasper off at my apartment. Well, she all but threw us out of her car, barely giving us time to get our suitcases. A driving, sleepy Rosalie was not fun.

I said a quick goodbye to Bella, getting a little kiss before Rosalie barked at me to get my bags and get moving, saying that Bella would be 'here tomorrow."

We grabbed our stuff and I lead the way up to my apartment and unlocked the door. We went inside and got rid of our bags, and then I took Jasper for a tour of the place, showing him to the spare room. It was a really spare room. There was a bed that Alice insisted that I had, 'just in case', and that was about it.

"It's great," Jasper insisted anyway. "Thanks for letting me stay here, by the way."

I shrugged. "No problem. You're welcome to stay as long as you like. Like I said before, I'm not around much. Just to sleep on the rare chances I do get to sleep. So feel free to get food or whatever, it doesn't matter. I think I have a spare key somewhere in here too..." I said, wandering back into the kitchen. I opened a few drawers and finally found the key, and held it out to him.

"Thanks again," he said. "I just couldn't stay there. Charlotte and I...it's impossible to avoid her. I would be seeing her all the time. I couldn't take that."

"How long had you guys been together?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Two years."

"Seriously? What happened?"

"Honestly? I don't even know. I thought things were going good. It was the same as things had always been, I was happy, she seemed happy. Than this morning I get a call from her saying that things aren't working out, and she thinks it's best if we don't date anymore. And then she hung up. That was it."

"That's harsh man," I said, shaking my head.

He sighed. "I know. So when I realized that Bell and Rose were leaving to the city...I thought why not? Change of pace is good, right?"

"Yeah. The city's great. You'll love it here."

He smiled. "I hope so."

I yawned. "Well I'm headed to bed. Back to work tomorrow. I'll probably be gone before you wake up," I told him.

He nodded. "Okay. I'll probably head over to my sisters' tomorrow. See you later. Night."

"Night," I agreed, walking back to my room and laying down without bothering to change clothes and falling asleep in a matter of minutes.

Having Jasper around for a week, turned into two, and I knew he wasn't planning on going on home anytime soon. He got a part time temporary job at the end of the second week. I didn't care. I actually kind of liked having a roommate, and Jasper was really chill. He bought a lot of food, and he could actually cook a few things, which was handy sometimes. He looked a lot happier, and I was glad that he was having a good time.

Going back to work after the short vaction was kind of hard, not because of work so much, but just because of how busy it was keeping me now. I hardly had time to eat or sleep, and I had pretty much no time to see Bella whatsosever. Not that it mattered, because she didn't have time to see me either. She was swaped at the paper, and reporting, running here and there to get a story. We kept in touch with texts, and a very occasional phone call, but we had hardly seen each other in person since Thanksgiving.

I hadn't seen my family either, which I didn't mind nearly as much. But I did need to talk to my Mom about Bella before the Christmas party, which was in less than a week, and I needed to talk to her soon. I also needed to talk to Alice about her taking Bella shopping for a dress for the party.

So when I finally got a few hours off of work, I grudgingly headed to my former home instead of to Bella's. If she wasn't running around doing a story on some Christmas charity work, I would definitely be with her right now.

"Anyone here?" I asked, walking inside. It felt weird just walking now that I didn't live here, but knocking was just too weird. It was still sort of my house, and I wasn't waiting for someone to let me in.

"Edward?" Esme said in surprise, coming into the foyer from the kitchen. I hadn't seen them since before Thanksgiving, so yeah it probably was pretty surprisingly to see me.

"Yup, that's me," I said easily.

She didn't look amused. At all. "Well I had to make sure. It's been what, a month?"

I shrugged. "I've been swapped at work."

"And with your girlfriend."

"Yes," I agreed.

"You're still with her?"

"Of course, Mom. She's the one, remember? I'm going to marry her someday."

She frowned. "I don't get it, Edward. After all of those girls you've dated...why her?"

"That's actually what I'm here to talk to you about. I've invited her to the Christmas party."

"To our Christmas party?" She said with a frown.

I nodded. "Yes. Of course. I'm going and I want her to be here with me. And I don't want it to be awkward for her. I don't care how you feel about her, to be quite honest. You might think she's just a gold digger or something, but that's the last thing she is. She's gorgeous and wonderful, and sweet, and kind. She's unlike anyone I've ever dated before. She's got a great family, and she's just..." I smiled. "She's perfect for me. And I want to be with her, I want her to be able to part of this, of _our world,_" I said a bit sarcastically, "and for her to be comfortable in it. So whatever your opinion of her is, you'd better keep it to yourself. No matter what you really feel about her, it's Christmas, and you'd better _be nice, _and try to get along with her. And if you can't do that, you'd better tell me now so I can tell her that something came up and we can't go anymore."

Esme was staring at me, obviously surprised at the long speech. "You actually love her," she said, shaking her head, looking a little bewildered.

I nodded. "Yes."

"I've never heard you say that about anyone before," she said meekly.

"No, I guess not. But, Esme? I'm serious."

"Fine," she snapped. "I'll try to get along with her. I'll _try _and that's the best I'm promising."

That was the best I was going to get, so I nodded. "All right. Bella and I will see you at the party," I said. "Now, is Alice here?"

"I think so. Go check her room."

I nodded and headed up the stairs, knocking on her closed door. It opened a moment later and Alice appeared. She grinned when she saw it was me, and threw her arms around my neck. "Edward! I've hardly seen you lately!"

"No one has," I said with a smile. "Not even Bella."

"You're too busy," she frowned. "So what brings you here today?"

"I need your help."

She grinned, her gray eyes getting that glint they did whenever something involved planning or shopping. I suddenly felt bad for springing her on Bella like this. "The Christmas party is this week. And Bella's coming, of course. I wondered if you wouldn't ask her to go shopping with you?"

Her eyes lit up. "Really? I'd love too! Oh, I can find her an amazing dress for the party. I wonder if she'd let me do her hair and make up as well?"

"I'm sure she would," I said. "You'll call her?"

"Yup, I'll call her tonight and set up a shopping date."

"Great, thank you, Alice. Oh hey, I've got to run, but tonight I'm off of work, and so is Bella, so we're having dinner at my apartment. Want to come? I think Rosalie's coming along-Emmett has to work, and Jasper will be around too."

"Jasper?" she asks, her forehead wrinkling.

"Oh, I guess I really have been out of it. Jasper is Rosalie's younger brother. He came back to the city with us after Thanksgiving. He just broke up with his girlfriend, and he wanted a change of scenery. Rose said they didn't have enough room for him to stay with him, so I let him stay with me."

She looked really surprised. "You did?"

"Yes. Why?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Anyway, I'd love to come to dinner. What time?"

"Seven?"

"Sounds great. I'll see you then," she said. She hugged me again before I left, heading back to the office to check on things before dinner. I made sure nothing had come up, and stopped to say hi to Emmett, who was just as swamped as I had been lately, before stopping at the grocery store and heading home. Jasper was going to be doing the actual cooking, since he knew I was hopeless when it came to kitchens.

"Got everything?" he asked, taking the bag from me as I walked in.

I shrugged, stopping in the doorway to take off my coat and gloves. "Yeah, I guess so." I hung my stuff up, and ran a hand through my hair, brushing away the snowflakes. As Jasper headed into the kitchen to cook I went into my room and changed out of my suit into some jeans and a plain black t-shirt. I went into the kitchen and asked Jazz if there was anything I could do.

He eyed me for a long moment. "Uh, no. I'm okay."

I chuckled. "I'm not that much of a failure in the kitchen, am I?"

"No, of course not," he said too quickly.

"thanks so much," I grinned. "Since I'm such a failure, I'm going to go watch TV while you cook than. Oh, and by the way, we need five plates."

"Five?"

"My sister's coming too."

"Oh, okay," he shrugged. "No problem."

He finished dinner, which was pretty elaborate, actually. Who knew Jasper Hale was such a great cook? He had some fancy looking casserole thing that smelled amazing, and he had made a cheesecake for desert. Yeah, cheesecake.

The doorbell rang, and I all but ran for the door, jerking it open. Instead of Bella and Rosalie it was Alice, dressed in dark skinny jeans and a bright purple top with matching purple boots. She grinned at my disappointed expression.

"Bella isn't here yet, huh?" she asked.

"No," I admitted, frowning.

She laughed, and walked in. "Wow, it actually smells great in here."

"Well thank you," Jasper said, suddenly appearing from the kitchen. Her head snapped up and she turned to look at him, her gray eyes raking over him. And then she smiled. "You must be...Jasper?"

He nodded. "Yes ma'am. And you're Edward's sister...?"

"Alice," she supplied, putting out her hand.

Jasper shook and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Alice."

"Nice to meet you too, Jasper," she smiled back at him

This was not happening. Jasper and my sister? Seriously? I probably would have been more upset if my doorbell hadn't rung again. Jasper and Alice both laughed at me as I turned on my heel and tripped headed for the door. I caught myself before I actually fell, and tried to ignore them, opening the door.

Bella and Rosalie were waiting out there, and I reached out for Bella as soon as my eyes landed on her. She laughed and put her arms around my neck, pulling me down to her height for a kiss. I missed her even more than I had realized.

"Oh, gross," Rosalie said, but I could tell she was grinning. "Get a room."

Alice giggled. "I think it's cute."

"You would," Rosalie told her matter of factly.

We finally pulled away, and I sort of expected Bella to be embarrassed, but she just flipped her hair out of her face and rolled her eyes at the two of them. "You're just jealous," she told them. "Hi Jasper."

"Hi Bella," he grinned, winking at her.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "It smells pretty good in here. When's dinner?"

"Right now," Jasper said, walking into the kitchen with Alice not far behind.

"I'm glad you're here," I murmured to Bella, catching her hand and drawing her back to me before she could walk off. I leaned down and kissed her again.

"I'm glad I'm here too," she said, between kisses. "I missed you."

"I missed you too. So much."

"Come on!" someone-Alice I think-yelled from the kitchen.

I sighed, but Bella just grinned and took my hand, pulling me into the kitchen to eat dinner with the rest of the group.

Jasper's dinner _did _taste as good as it smelled.

"Where are you working?" Alice asked, reaching for seconds. And Alice hardly ever ate seconds.

"I've got a temp job at that warehouse down the street. Cleaning up, fixing stuff," he shrugged.

"Are you planning on sticking around here?" she asked, and we all looked at him, curious about his answer. He hadn't said one way or the other.

He ran a hand through his blond hair. "Uh. I've been thinking about it."

"You should look into working a restaurant. You'd be a great chef."

"I don't have any training," he shrugged.

Alice shrugged. "So what? A lot of chefs don't. You just have to find a place willing to give you a chance. I know a lot of the restaurants with owners more willing to do that. I can help you out if you want. Give you the names and stuff."

He seemed to think it over for a few minutes, and then he nodded. "that would be great, Alice. Thank you."

She beamed, and I caught myself before I groaned out loud. Yeah, Alice was definitely interested in Jasper.

Jasper brought out the cheesecake, it was even better than the food had been. From the way Alice looked as she ate, he probably could have asked her to marry him right then, and she would have said yes without missing a beat.

I was glad when the food was gone though. I asked Bella if she wanted to go for a walk, and Rose, Jasper and Alice said they were going to play a board game or something. We bundled up in our heavy coats and walked hand in hand for a while, admiring the storefronts decorated for Christmas, and talked about what was going on for our jobs.

"I'm pretty excited for the Christmas party," she told me, as we walked back to my apartment.

I smiled. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I think it might be fun. And anyway, at least I'll get to spend some time with you."

I kissed her right there in the street, people walking around us since we were standing in the middle of the sidewalk. I really didn't care. I just wanted to be with her. Her hands curled in my hair, and I ran my tongue across her lip and she shuddered happily. I missed her. I missed this.

We finally pulled away, and I couldn't help but think that this was probably going to be on some newspaper tomorrow or something. I really didn't care though. I didn't even crack open that section of the paper anymore. Instead I usually went to a certain reporters articles instead.

We walked back to the apartment, and Bella said that she really did need to get home, so I grudgingly kissed her goodbye and promised to call her in the morning, praying that after the Holidays I would have some more time.


	17. Silver and Blue

So only three more chapters to go! This another one fluffy one.

Thanks SO much to everyone that has reviewed! I love reading all of them!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen.

Bella.

The last three weeks had been a whirlwind. Thanksgiving had been the best one I had ever had, and just one of my best days period. Talking on the porch with Edward...I had never expected him to ever say that he wanted me to become his wife someday. I knew I loved Edward, I knew he loved me, but I never really envisioned him wanting to have a future, or at least that kind of future, with me. But he did. He came out and told me did. When I had gone up to bed that night I had felt like I was floating. I probably hadn't really ever been happier than I had been right then.

Leaving Forks and everyone was hard the next day though. Charlie had hugged me and told me I was glowing, and that he was happy for me, and without me even telling him that I was spending Christmas with Edward, he told me that he would just spend Christmas with the Hale's, catching me off-guard, but I was glad that he would be okay, and that he did have the Hale's. I would go down after New Years, as soon as I could get off work, I decided then.

Jasper ended up coming back to New York with us, because Charlotte had broken up with him. They had been together for a really long time, but I was still surprised that he wanted to come to the city. He was more of a small town boy, and he had never really showed much interest in leaving Forks. Edward surprised me when he said that Jasper could stay with him, and that he was fine with Jasper staying with him until....whenever. They seemed to be getting along just fine.

Since getting back to the city none of us had much time to spend with each other though. I was swamped with work. Irina, my boss, seemed to think it was fun to give me all of the charity stories, and a ton of other Christmas related stuff, along with my usual work. I was either sitting in the office typing away at a computer like there was no tomorrow, or running around getting my story. I was coming home late at night and falling into bed exhausted. I barely even saw Rose.

And Edward was just as busy. He was on a huge case, I guess, and he had been home even less than I had lately. Up until the other night at Jasper's, I had hardly seen him since our return home.

Having dinner with everyone-with the exception of Emmett-had been nice. With Jasper there it felt like we had our own little family. It hadn't escaped my notice, either, that Jasper and Alice got along _very _well. That was kind of a surprise. Alice wasn't really Jasper's type, short and pixie-like in her designer clothes. He usually went for more earthy, hippie types, but there was no denying the sparks flying between them.

That night Alice had asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her to get something to wear to the Cullen's Christmas Party, and I had agreed right away, because Alice would know exactly what to get, and I had no idea.

We found a day when we were both-miracously-free, and she took me to a little boutique in downtown. It was an adorable little shop, with a Christmas tree in the front window, and a beautiful but elegant display.

"This is one of my favorite places," Alice told me. "It's little, and it's kind of a hole in the wall type place, but Amy is a great designer. She's definitely going to be famous one of these days, there's no doubt about it. You're going to love her dresses." She lead me into the store, where a short but adorable blond was sitting behind the counter. She had a bob haircut and was dressed in a blue sweater dress, black leggings and black flats. She smiled at us. "Hi Alice!"

"Hi Amy," Alice grinned. "This is my friend, Bella. Bella this is the designer/store owner, Amy."

"It's nice to meet you," I said.

She smiled back at me. "You too. What are you guys looking for?"

"Dresses for the Cullen Christmas Party," Alice said with a grin.

"Oh," Amy grinned back, standing up. She lead us to the back of the store, and motioned to one of the racks. "This is my Holiday line. Pretty but sort of festive stuff. Perfect for Christmas parties."

"Great!" Alice headed straight for the rack, and I followed her, but hung back as she started going through each dress, shaking her head, or smiling, or nodding to herself. She pulled a few dresses out, stared at them for a moment before shaking her head and putting them back and moving onto the next dress.

It seemed better to stay out of the way.

I wandered around a bit while she looked, and Amy's stuff was adorable. Mostly all dresses, though there was some jeans and shoes and the like. Everything was just...great. Unique but not overdone or way out there.

"I found it!" Alice called, and I walked back over to her to find her holding up an icy blue dress. It was a cocktail dress, short, strapless and an empire waist. It had little silver squares at the low neckline, that shimmered in the light.

"Wow, it's gorgeous," I said, reaching out to run my fingers against the soft shimmery fabric.

"It's perfect for you," Alice said, holding it up against me. "Go try it on."

"I don't know, Alice. I don't think I can afford something like this," I told her honestly. I loved Amy's stuff, but I had noticed the price tags, and they weren't exactly in my budget. Especially not for a dress just to go to one Holiday party.

"Oh, don't worry about that!" Alice shook her head. "Edward will pay for it-"

"I don't want him to have to pay for it," I told her softly. "I know he would, and I appreciate that, but he shouldn't have to pay for a dress just so I can go to his party," I explained.

She watched more for a moment, then nodded. "I understand. But, will you let me buy the dress? As your Christmas gift? I was planning on getting you something, and I'll just get this instead."

I thought it over for a second. "Okay," I relented. Because it was a really gorgeous dress, and since this party was my ...coming out of sorts, I really did want to look good. I wanted to fit in, I wanted to look like I belonged. And I definitely didn't want to embarrass Edward by just wearing whatever old dress was in my closet.

Alice clapped her hands together. "Awesome! Go try it on!"

I went into the dressing room and tried it on. It fit like a glove, like it had been made for me. It hit just above the knee, and the cut was extremely flatting to my figure. The icy color seemed to work with my skin, I was still pale, but it seemed to give me a bit of color.

Alice ordered me out, of course, and she actually squealed when she saw me in the dress. "Oh, Bella! That's so perfect. It looks amazing on you."

I couldn't help but smile. "Thank you so much, Alice."

She waved her hand. "Don't mention it. I can guarantee that picking out your outfit and seeing you look great in it makes me ten times happier than you. Oh, and you realize I'm buying you shoes too?"

"Um, fine. As long as you don't drag me around from store to store like Rosalie did last time," I told her.

"No problem! I already have them picked out. Don't move." She headed back into the store floor, and came back with a pair of pretty silver heels.

"Perfect," I said as soon as I saw them.

She grinned. "I know, right?"

I slipped them in, and turned to look in the mirror. They matched the dress perfectly, and I had to admit my legs looked pretty great in them.

"Dress and shoes, check. I have some jewelry and stuff that will look great with it too. So come to the house early, and I'll do your hair and make up, and you're going to knock everyone dead."

I hugged her. "Thanks so much, Alice."

She hugged me back. "It's nothing, Bella, really. I'm just glad that out of everyone my brother has dated, it's you that he's serious about. Now get out of that dress, and let's get it bought. And we'll get some lunch."

"All right," I agreed. "But I get to pay for lunch."

That Friday I headed over to the Cullen's long before the party was scheduled to start. The house was already being decorated though. The plain but beautiful house was suddenly completely decked out in silver and red Christmas decorations. There was a _huge _tree in the foyer, and holly and garland and lights wrapped around the staircase. Everywhere you looked there was something Christmas related. I could only imagine what this place would look like with the party.

Edward wasn't arriving till later, because he was still working on the case, so I headed straight to Alice's room. She was waiting for me, of course, and she went straight to work, having my strip down and wear a robe while she did my hair and makeup, so I wouldn't mess it all up when I put on my dress.

She set me down in front of her bathroom mirror, and went to work. I wasn't even sure of half of what she did. She talked a mile a minute about the party and the planning-she had done most of it-as well and telling me about the party from the last few years.

"I invited Jasper," she said suddenly.

I looked up to see her face in the mirror. "What?"

"As my guest. I asked Jasper. He said yes."

I grinned. Ha, there had definitely been something there. "Really?" I tried to imagine Jasper, plain old small town boy Jasper in a tux at a party like this. It was as easy to imagine as myself being here. Which, by the way, was really hard.

"You said he's like your brother too, right?" she asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, he is. I had a crush on him once when I was like...ten. And he had a crush on me too, but once we actually talked about it, he kissed me and we decided that it was like kissing your brother or sister, and that's all we've felt since then," I shrugged.

"But he just broke up with a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, Charlotte."

"How long ago?"

"Thanksgiving."

"Oh," she said quietly, frowning. "So three weeks?"

I met her eyes in the mirror. "He's not that kind of person, Alice. He's really great, and he doesn't do...rebounds. He wouldn't date someone until he was emotionally ready for it. He doesn't mess around, he doesn't play games. He's straight forward. And long as you're straight forward with him, you guys should get along great," I told her honestly.

She smiled. "Thank you, Bella," and went back to work on me.

I'm not really sure how long I sat there, but it was a while. Finally though, she pulled away from me and turned to look at me, a satisfied smile on her face.

I turned to really look in the mirror, and I hardly regonized myself. My eyes were an icy blue and silver, that looked really good with my pale skin, and shockingly enough even worked with my brown eyes. My skin was flawless and glimmered just a bit in the light. My hair was shiny and curled, some of it pulled back. Alice had put little silver beads in my hair. I looked more like a model than Bella Swan.

"Wow."

She grinned. "You look amazing."

"I can't believe you did all this," I told her honestly.

"It helps if I have a great base to start with," she told me with a smile. She looked pretty great too. Her hair and makeup was already done, and she was wearing cloth shorts and a button flannel shirt that she could take off without messing up her hair. Her hair was curled and pulled into a cute updo twist. Her make up was dark and smokey, and she reminded me of an old pinup girl. She had that classic beauty thing going on.

"Let's get on our dresses. People are going to be arriving soon."

She grabbed the shopping bags from Amy's, and held mine out to me. I changed into the icy blue dress, and it looked just as good on as it had in the store. I put on the heels as well, and Alice gave me a Sapphire ring and a diamond bracelet to wear. "You look amazing," she told me with a huge smile. "I think Edward is waiting for you in his old room."

I thanked her a ton, for doing all of this, for the dress, and then headed for Edward's room, anxious about him seeing me like this. I knocked on the door, and he called for me to go in. He was standing in front of a mirror, trying to tie his tie. He looked amazing. He wasn't wearing a tux, just a nice black suit that fit him perfectly. He had a black blazer and a black skinny tie. His hair was unruly, but it just...it worked. I couldn't help but stare at him and wonder what I ever did to get this lucky.

He finally turned away to look at me, and he did a double take. "Wow. Bella. You look...amazing doesn't even begin to cover it. I don't think there's a word to describe..."

I smiled. "Thanks, Edward. But it's all your sisters work."

"Hardly," He said, coming over to me and kissing me. "This dress...all of it. Gorgeous."

I ran my hands up and down his perfect chest, and then reached for his tie. "Having trouble?" I asked.

He smiled sheepishly and nodded. "Yeah. I always have."

I brushed my hands down his neck and tied it for him. With my heels on I was tall enough to lean forward and kiss his neck.

He moaned. "Bella, you'd better stop that now if we dpn't want to be late for the party," he warned. Then he grinned. "Besides, I have a gift for you." He pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket and held it out to me.

I eyed it uncertainly, and cracked it open. "Oh, Edward!" I exclaimed, looking at the necklace. It was a tiny silver rose. Not the outline of a rose, but an actual little rosebud on a silver chain. "It's perfect! I love it! Thank you."

He kissed my cheek. "I'm glad you like it. Your welcome."

I took it out of the box, and held it out to him. "Will you put it on for me?"

"Of course," he said, taking it. I held my hair out of the way carefully while he hooked into place. He kissed the back of my neck when he finished, and I felt goosebumps all over when he did.

"Thank you," I murmured again, kissing him. "By the way, you look great too. Better than great."

"Thank you," he kissed me again, and then sighed. "We should get out there."

"We should," I agreed.

"I love you."

"I love you too."


	18. The Christmas Party

Okay, so NYF is finished! Or at least, I'm finished writing it! There's twenty-one chapters. And of course, there's going to be a sequel [but the plan is to finish Come Back To Me before I post it]. I'm really excited about finishing it! I've never finished anything full length before, so this is really exciting! It took just about a year to do it, but I did it! Thanks to everyone for sticking with me! I plan to post all the rest of the chapters in the next couple of days.

This chapter is a little short, but this is the chapter that took me so long to write. It really did not want to come out at all.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

I still don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Eighteen.

The party was just beginning as we walked down the stairs together. I was well aware of the people-and there was a lot of them-already there, all eyes were on us. I didn't feel as vunarable and out of place as I had feared though. With Alice's handiwork and Edward's compliment I felt confident that I was pretty, and that I could hold my own among the best of them.

Edward held my hand and led me into the room, keeping me close to his side. I knew he was probably more worried about this party than I was. I was aware of flashes going off as the photographer -yes, they had a photographer - took pictures of us as we joined the party.  
I searched the room for Rosalie and Emmett, or Jasper or Alice, but I didn't see them anywhere close by. Esme and Carlisle were walking towards us, however. Esme, dressed in a gorgeous red wrap dress, had a smile pasted on her face, but otherwise she looked uncomfortable. Carlisle looked much more at ease. He was wearing a suit with a red tie to match his wife. He smiled easily at us.

"Hello Edward, Bella," he greeted. He turned to smile at me. "You look gorgeous, dear."

"Thank you, Mr. Cullen," I replied politely, returning his smile.

I glanced at Esme, who was still wearing the same smile. "Thank you for coming, dear," she said finally.

"Your party-and your house-is lovely," I told her.

"Thank you," she said again, glancing at her son.

Edward just smiled and slipped his arm around my shoulders. "I think you've outdone yourself this year, Mom."

Carlisle laughed. "Well we outdid the checks this year," he joked. He clapped Edward's shoulder and then taking Esme's hand they moved onto greet the next couple.

Edward seemed to relax as they walked away. "Well there, the worst is over."

I glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Instead of answering he just lead me over to an elderly couple.

"Hello, Edward," the man said, smiling, and as soon as I saw his smile I knew that he was related to Edward. His eyes-green-turned to me. "Well now, who is this lovely young lady?" he said, winking.

Edward grinned. "This is my beautiful girlfriend, Bella Swan. Bella, this is my Grandfather, Edward Sr."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Cullen," I said, taking his hand.

He smiled back at me. "Nice to meet you, dear. Now I see why my grandson is always so eager to leave work. What do you do?"

"I'm a reporter," I told him.

"You read her work every morning," Edward told him proudly.

Mr. Cullen raised an eyebrow. "Really?" his forehead wrinkled for a moment. "I don't remember a Bella Swan?"

"They publish me under Isabella Marie," I told him.

"I'll look for it," He promised with another wink.

I winked back, and Edward grinned. "Okay, enough flirting with my girlfriend. I think I see Emmett and Rose over there," he said, steering me in the opposite direction.

I laughed. "Nice meeting you, Mr. Cullen!" I said over my shoulder as we walked over to Rosalie and Emmett.

The rest of the evening was nice. Edward and I spent a lot of time talking to Rosalie and Emmett, and Alice and Jasper, and the rest of the time we mingled through the room, as he introduced me proudly. Everyone had been nice, the food was good, and the party was beautiful.

Towards the end of the night I excused myself from Edward and went into the bathroom to check my makeup. I leaned against the counter, staring at my reflection for a few minutes. Luckily everything still looked fine, because I wouldn't have been able to fix it without Alice's help. I headed back to the party, but not before running into Esme in the hall.

Her eyes ran over me sharply, studying me. "That's a beautiful necklace," she said, with something that almost sounded like...bitterness?

I ran my fingers over the rose. "Yeah, it is," I agreed, smiling. "Edward gave it to me."

She made a snorting sound in the back of throat, and quickly disguised with a cough. "Enjoy the party dear," she murmured out politely, heading for the kitchen.

I turned and watched her walk away, a little confused. To be honest I wasn't sure if she had just been rude to me or not. I looked away and shook my head, resuming my search for Edward.

He was talking to a red-head that I recognized as I walked closer, as the girl he had danced with that first night I met him. I felt a surge of...yeah, it was jealously, but I knew it was stupid, so I pushed it down quickly.

Edward's eyes lit up when he saw me, and I knew the jealously had definitely been stupid. He held out a hand to me, and lead me close to his side again.

The red-head raised an eyebrow, looking amused. She looked to Edward for an introduction, as he tucked me under his arm.

"This is my girlfriend, Bella Swan," he said. "Bella, this is Tanya Denali."

She smiled. "Nice to meet you, Bella," she said, shaking my hand.

"Nice to meet you, too," I said.

"You and Edward make a lovely couple," she complimented. "I love your necklace too, by the way." She sounded sincere about everything she said, so I smiled and thanked her.

As Edward and I walked away I smiled at him and asked, "So how long did you date her?"

He chuckled. "I guess I knew you'd pick up on it. On and off for about two years. We were never meant to be, but our parents are good friends, we were kind of...obligated, you know? Anyway, we're much better off friends."

His voice was firm, letting me know that anything between them besides friendship was definitely over.

The rest of the parity was fun, but I was glad when Edward finally drove me home. I was sleepy and a little buzzed from the wine. We kissed in his car for a while, and then he walked me to my door.

"I'll pick you up in the morning, okay?" He said, kissing me again.

"Sure," I said, smiling. "I'll be ready."

"I love you, Bella," he said.

"I love you too, Edward."

He kissed me again, and once more, and we finally said our goodbyes.

I went to bed still on a buzz, completely ready for Christmas tomorrow.


	19. Christmas

Chapter Eighteen, here we come. (: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Just two more to go after this! Thanks again for sticking with me.

I didn't own Twilight at the beginning, and I sure don't own it now.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen.

Bella.

Edward was there at my door, bright and early, at six AM, ready to celebrate our first Christmas together. I was ready for him, dressed in black jeans and a red shirt, my presents in a bag by the front door.

He greeted with me a kiss and a merry Christmas, telling me that I looked great. I returned the compliment. He really did look great, in jeans and a green shirt that brought out his eyes. "Jasper's in the car," he said.

"Jasper?" I said, surprised. Rosalie, Jasper, Edward and I were planning another Christmas of sorts tonight, but I hadn't known that he was going to the Cullen's with the rest of us.

He nodded, a grin spreading across his face. "Alice invited him."

I grinned. "I think it's love," I said in a sing-song voice.

"I think that you're right. Is Rosalie even up?"

I nodded, glancing down the hall. "She's curling her hair. Apparently it's not Christmas unless Rosalie Hale has curly hair," I said the last part pretty loud.

"I heard that Bella Swan!" she shouted back, and I just smiled.

"She'll be ready in a second," I said.

He nodded, and he leaned against the doorway and smiled, his eyes drifting over me. "I'm glad I'm spending Christmas with you," he told me.

I grinned, walking over to him slowly, and putting my hands against his chest. "Really?"

"Really," he confirmed, dropping a kiss on my nose.

"I'm happy I'm spending Christmas with you too," I said, leaning in for a kiss. Just as his lips touched mine, Rosalie stomped into the living room.

"Oh break it up you two," she said, disgusted. "You two are always at it."

We both just laughed, and I reached up and gave Edward a quick kiss before turning to look at Rosalie. She was wearing a casual black dress with a red sweater thrown over it, and of course, her blond hair was curled to perfection. She grabbed her presents for the Cullen's. "You guys ready?" she asked, like she had been waiting on us and not the other way around.

"We are," I told her. "And you look great, by the way."

That seemed to cheer her up and she smiled at me. Even after all this time of living in the city with jobs, Rosalie still didn't do mornings well. Even Christmas mornings.

Edward drove us and Jasper to the Cullen's place. Esme, Emmett, Carlisle and Alice were already waiting for us, sitting in front of the tree. When we walked in Alice jumped up and ran over to Jasper, throwing her arms around him and kissing him.

All of us turned to stare at the couple in shock.

Okay, she had told me she liked him. But...this? Already?

Rosalie actually looked shocked. I realized she probably didn't have any idea of what was going on with her brother and Alice, she had been working so much lately.

Edward just rolled his eyes and took my hand, leading me into the living room in front of the tree, while Alice finally untangled herself from Jasper.

"When did this happen?!" I heard Rosalie exclaim as we walked away.

I set my bag of presents by the tree, and Edward pulled me over to a love seat, sitting close to me. I said hello and Merry Christmas to his parents, and finally the others came to join us in the living room as well. I saw Esme studying Jasper very carefully as he walked in, a frown settling on her face, and I could see it, that look of disapproval. She didn't prove of Jasper. Maybe it was his worn out black converse, or his jeans and red, white and green flannel shirt. Maybe it was his slightly long blond hair. But whatever it was, she didn't like it.

I felt myself grow protective. So what if he didn't look rich, or even classy. Jasper was one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet, and she was already writing him off, before a word could come out of his mouth.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked beside me.

I took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine," I assured him, squeezing his hand.

Alice introduced Jasper, and then went over to the tree. "I always hand out presents," she announced to the group. I didn't miss Edward rolling his eyes, and I grinned.

Alice handed everyone their gifts, before coming over to plop down beside Jasper.

I was very surprised to find that Carlisle and Esme had gotten me a present, I definitely hadn't expected one. I ripped the paper off, and laying in my lap was a bangle bracelet. It was black and sparkly, and Rosalie had one matching it in red. Maybe it wasn't thoughtful, but they had still bothered to get us something, and that was really nice.

I hadn't gotten them something exactly, but I had helped out Edward pick out their gift, and he was including my name on it, since I had helped him out with it.

My other gifts were a gift card, from Alice naturally, and she smiled at me and told me 'we'd go shopping soon!'. The last gift was from Edward, and it was a gift card to this bookstore I loved downtown. It was by far my favorite, just because of the thought he had put in it, and I grinned and kissed him on the cheek.

I had two gifts for him, one for our other Christmas later, and one for now. I had gotten him a gift card to the coffee shop near his office, because I knew he loved it there. It wasn't much, but I hoped he would like it anyway. And he seemed too. He smiled when he unwrapped it, and murmured a thanks in my ear, kissing my cheek.

I was glad when the present part was over though, and everyone sort of broke off to do their own thing. Esme went to 'tell the cook what to make for breakfast,' and Carlisle was thoroughly entertained by a new book he had gotten. Alice was sitting with Rosalie, squealing over clothes and jewelry that she had gotten. Jasper, Emmett and Edward were talking, and I stayed close to him, his arm around my shoulders.

My stomach growled after a few minutes, and he laughed. He kissed my forehead. "Go get something from the kitchen, okay?"

"Do you want anything?" I asked.

He shook his head, and I headed into the kitchen. It took me a few minutes to find it, and I walked inside. There was no cook, but Esme was in there. She looked at me questioningly.

"I was just...looking for..something to eat," I stuttered, unsure of why I felt so uncomfortable around her. "My stomach was growling and Edward told me to come get something and..." I trailed off, blushing as I realized I was rambling.

"I'm sure he did," she said briskly, walking over to one of the cabinets.

I raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?" I asked, in what I hoped was an even tone. I didn't get why she was being like this to me.

She grabbed a glass, and then turned around to look at me. "I think we both know, dear."

"Know what?" I asked, still confused.

"You have a great act going on, you know. But you can stop. I know what you are, I know what you are after. You get my son all flustered and sure he's in love, so he'll marry you, and then you'll stay with him for a little while, living in a big place, with lot's of clothes and jewelry and a nice car, and then you'll divorce him, take half of what belongs to him, and break his heart. Oh, he's convinced that it isn't true, but I'm not willing to let that happen," she ranted.

I stared at her. I wasn't sure I was hearing her right. Had she just...she just accused me of being a _gold digger. _A _gold digger. _

"You can't be serious," I shot back. "I realize you don't know me, and that you haven't really made an effort to do that, but pretty much the last word I would _ever _use to describe myself would be a gold digger. I'm being completely honest when I say that money doesn't mean anything to me. I bet you didn't know that I would actually _prefer _it if Edward wasn't...rich? I love him. And the last thing I want from him is your money."

She looked stunned that I would talk back to her. She didn't say anything, didn't even try to form a reply. I turned on my heel, turning back to the living room. I gathered up stuff, everything but that stupid bracelet from Esme and Carlisle.

"Uh, what's going on?" Edward asked me.

"Nothing," I said, a bit too harsh. "I just need to get out of here." I wasn't mad at him, but I couldn't stay here.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, as I gathered my stuff and turned away from him, towards the door.

Esme was standing in the doorway, still looking stunned.

"Why are you leaving?" he asked me.

"Because you wouldn't want a _gold digger _in your house," I hissed, and I turned and walked out.

Edward.

"What did you do?" I practically yelled. Okay, maybe I did yell it. But it didn't matter. She deserved it. She deserved all of it.

And there she was, my mother, standing in the doorway, even after Bella had left in angry sad rage, all because of her. She had hardly blinked, even when Bella had slammed the door behind her. "What did you do?" I asked again, louder.

Carlisle slammed his book shut. "What's going on here?"

"Yeah, what's going on here?" I demanded.

Esme ran her hands over her hair, smoothing it out. "Nothing happened. I just called her out for what she is, is all. Someone needed to do it," she turned to look at me and forced a smile. "You're better off, dear."

"You've got to be kidding me. I am _not _better off without her. I don't want _anyone _but her, and I _can't _believe you'd do this! To me! To her! I asked you to be nice to her, just for Christmas, and you couldn't even do that?" I turned to grab my coat and my wallet, and headed for the door.

"Edward! Where are you going?" she asked, trailing behind me.

"To find Bella. Don't expect me to come back. We're done."


	20. Christmas Aftermath

One more to go. Just this and the end.  
Thanks to everyone who reviewed and stuck with me!  
This was another chapter that was pretty hard to write...and I know Edward's sort of all over the place, but hey, it's rough for him. And Bella, well she just wants him to be happy.

I don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Twenty.

Edward.

I ran out of the house, into the cold Christmas morning air. It had only been a few minutes, she couldn't be that far away, not yet. But she wasn't out here waiting, and I didn't see her anywhere else either.

I just needed to find her.

I grabbed my phone, hitting the speed dial with her number. Of course she didn't pick up. I shut it and shoved it back into my pocket. She would go to her apartment, I guessed. I headed for my Volvo, pulling out.

The streets were pretty empty, because it was Christmas morning after all, and most people were celebrating, not out here on the streets, so I made good time for once. I was at her apartment in less than ten minutes. I parked outside of her building and headed up to her floor.

Holding my breath I knocked on her door, hoping that she was here, because I really had no idea where else she would go.

"Who is it?" I heard, muffled from the other side of the door.

"Bella!" I let out a sigh of relief. "It's me, it's Edward. Please let me in."

There was a long pause of nothing, and I was sure that she was rejecting me. For a moment I thought that this was it, that it was the end of everything.

And then the door opened.

"Bella," I breathed.

Her eyes were red, I noticed, as she moved out of the doorway so I could come inside. She walked over to the couch and sat down, playing with the fringe on a blanket drapped over the arm.

I sat down beside her. "Bella..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked me in a quiet voice.

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me that she ...that she felt like that?"

Oh. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to buy a minute. "I just...I didn't want her to...I didn't want to upset you. I didn't want you to worry over this."

She didn't say anything, and I sighed. "You were so worried about meeting them, and when Esme said something about you, I told her off about it-that's when I moved into my apartment-and I've been avoiding them ever since. Before Christmas she promised she would be nice to you, to us. I figured she'd get over it pretty fast, that she would realize that you _aren't _like that, and that she'd see what an amazing person, and that's why I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to get upset or anything when I was hoping she'd get over it," I told her, honestly. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I desperately wanted to reach out and pull her to me, ask her never to leave me.

She brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "I guess I understand that. I just...your Mom thinks I'm a gold digger. That I'm just out to marry you and divorce you, and steal your money." She sniffed as she talked, and I knew she was really upset about being accused of this stuff.

"I know she thinks that, but Bella, we both know that that isn't true. That's the last thing you'd ever do. It doesn't matter what she thinks, Bella."

"She's your mother."

"She is," I agreed, understanding where she was coming from. "But you...you're important. I can't lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either," she said, her voice still low, barely above a whisper. "But I don't know if I can do this knowing that she hates me, that she thinks stuff like this about me."

"Then we won't deal with them. I shouldn't have pressed the whole Christmas thing, we should have just gone back to your father, things would have been fine," I said, frustrated. "But we won't do this again, okay? We don't have to see them again unless you want too."

"Edward. They are your family. You can't just turn your back on them. Not for me," she protested, shaking her head. "No."

"Bella-"

"Look, things'll be okay," she said, shaking her head before I could try to interrupt her. "But I need a few hours, okay? Go home and talk to your family, and then come back. I don't...I won't get in the middle of you guys, though, okay?"

"I don't want to lose you," I whispered desperately.

"Go to your family, Edward," She said in a soft voice. She stood up and walked into the kitchen. From where I was sitting on her couch I could see her grab a coffee mug, and she reached for a box of instant hot chocolate.

I sighed, and I turned and walked out, because if she wanted me to talk to my family, if that's what it took to make things okay with us, I would.

So I drove back to my house. Carlisle and Esme were the last people I wanted to see, but I would do it. I parked outside the house and headed inside. I didn't see Alice or Emmett or anything, which I was thankful for. They would want to know what was going on, and where was Bella, and I couldn't deal with that stuff right now.

I went into the kitchen first, but found no one but the cook, who was making what looked like chocolate chip pancakes. Because yeah, my parents probably were thinking about food at a time like this. I asked her if she knew where they were, and she said she hadn't seen them in a few minutes.

Thanking her anyway I kept looking. I finally found myself outside of their door, and I hestiated knocking. I wasn't sure if I had ever been in my parents bedroom. It had been a strictly off-limits place when we were children, in a seperate side of the house, even, and I still felt weird about disturbing them.

But I wasn't five anymore, so I knocked, and I waited.

It took a few minutes, to the point where I was about to give up and walk away, but the door finally opened. Carlisle was standing in the door, still pajamas from when we opened our presents, not that much earlier.

"I didn't expect to see you back," he said.

I shrugged absently. "I need to talk to Esme."

I sort of expected him to stick up for her, or something, but instead he just nodded and disappeared into the room. A moment later he came back with a very reculant Esme in tow. She saw me and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I thought you were done with us," she said stiffly, and I hated how she was trying to push this back on me, make me feel guilty. I tried really hard to just ignore her.

"I wish I was," I said evenly. "But _Bella _didn't want me to do that."

Her eyes widened a bit when I mentioned Bella, but she shrugged it off quickly. "She's leading you on, dear. That's all. This is for the best."

"You must not have heard me the first dozen times," I said, struggling to keep my voice calm. "You should hear yourself, you know. You sound...crazy. You judged Bella before you ever got a chance to know her. If you had you would know who she is, what she is like, and you would know why I love her, and why I can't lose her, even if it means losing the rest of you."

I looked up. "I bought an engagement ring, a few weeks ago," I said in a quieter voice.

They both looked up at me in surprise. "What?" they said at the same time.

"I'm going to ask her to marry me. I...I've made my choice. It's up to you guys to make yours. Right now I'm gonna go home to my apartment and change and meet Bella later to make sure she's still up for us celebrating Christmas tonight."

They both looked sort of stunned as I walked out of their room, and I wasn't even sure what I was feeling anymore. I just wanted things with Bella to be all right.

Alice meet me in the hallway as I was leaving.

"Edward."

"Yeah."

"Are you guys still...coming tonight?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she'll be okay. I'm just giving her sometime."

"Okay," she smiled. The smile faded as quickly as it came. "I can't believe Mom."

"I can," I said simply. "Bella's just not what she wanted as a daughter in law. She wanted Tanya. Anyone who isn't that..." I shrugged. "She's just going to have to get used to the idea. If she wants to spend anytime with me, that is."

Alice nodded in agreement. "We'll see you guys tonight."

"Yeah," I said, heading out to my car.

I went back to my apartment, and I showered and shaved and changed into nice jeans and a button down shirt. I wrapped my other presents for Bella, and for everyone else, and I carried them all out to my car. I stopped at the coffee shop next to my apartment building, that surprisingly enough was open, and I got a coffee for myself and a peppermint hot chocolate for Bella that I knew she loved.

And I drove back to her place. We had agreed to have Christmas dinner at Bella and Rosalie's place because it was the biggest. I knocked on the door, trying to balance the presents in my arms. It was Rosalie that opened the door, and from her expression it was really hard to tell whether or not she was mad at me.

For a moment I was worried that everything wasn't okay, but the apartment smelled amazing, and I knew that they-well, Bella-had been baking, and I knew that everything was going to be okay.

Everyone else was already there, Emmett, Jasper and Alice. Alice was sitting on Jasper's lap on the couch, Emmett was hovering around the kitchen, begging Bella to let him taste the food, and Rosalie was laughing at him, telling him to be patient.

I set my stuff down, except for the hot chocolate and went into the kitchen, ignoring my brother.

Bella turned to look at me, and she smiled. She was skinny jeans, with no shoes or socks on, and a simple black shirt, an apron over it. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, and I couldn't help but smile back at her. She looked adorable and beautiful.

"Hey," she said in a soft voice.

"Hey. Here," I said, handing her the hot chocolate.

She put it up to her lips and grinned. "Thank you."

"It all smells great," I told her. "I'm surprised you don't have Jasper working for you though."

"Oh, he made a bunch of stuff and brought it over. Desert and everything. I just made the main course," she explained.

Emmett and Rosalie were both standing in the doorway of the kitchen, watching us. Bella raised her eyebrows, giving Rosalie a pointed look.

Rose rolled her eyes, and reached for Emmett's hand, pulling him back to the living room.

Bella rolled her eyes at them as they left, and turned back to me, with an expectant look.

"It's okay," I told her. "Things are okay. I told them straight up that you're important to me, and that they have to decide if they want to be around or not. I'm okay. You're okay?"

She nodded. "I'm okay. I..I..well, it wasn't nice or anything, but I'm okay. It's really insulting and everything, but I can sort of see how she was looking out for you. I imagine this sort of thing is a problem in your world. The thing is, though, Edward...your world. I love you, but I'm just not sure it's right for me."

"Bella, I want whatever world you want. If mine makes you uncomfortable, we don't have to do it. At least not often. Dinners sometimes, Holiday parties, sure. But we can pick and choose, as much as you are comfortable with. If it's too much, don't ever be afraid to say so, okay?"

She looked at me, hesitating. And then she nodded. "Okay."

"So..?"

She smiled. "We're okay, Edward."

I let out a sigh of relief, feeling like I had been holding my breath this entire time. I moved closer to her, wrapping my arms around her waist. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I kissed her.

Things were finally going to be okay.


	21. New Years

And here we are. At the end. I loved writing this chapter. It had me smiling the whole way through, and I hope it does the same for you guys.  
I'm sure you all know but now, but there is going to be a sequel, which I'll reveal the title at the end of the chapter.

Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, and everyone who has stuck with me through this entire thing. I hope you like this chapter.

I don't own Twilight.

* * *

Chapter Twenty.

Bella.

"I'm not sure about this," I admitted to Alice. She was over at our apartment, getting ready for the Cullen's New Years Eve Blowout. Yeah, apparently they had a party for everything.

In the past week, things had gotten a lot better. Christmas morning had been..well, you know, but the rest of the day had been really nice. Edward and I had worked everything out, and all of us had an amazing Christmas dinner and spent the rest of the evening opening presents and watching It's A Wonderful Life.

The next day Esme and Carlisle had asked Edward and I to come to dinner. It had been awkward, to say the least, but I had gotten a sort of apology from Esme, and they had insisted that we come to their New Years Eve party, which I guessed was a way of saying that they were going to make an effort to get along and move on. At least I hoped it was, so I had agreed.

Alice ran a comb through her black hair, playing with the curls in her short hair. She and Jasper, apparently, were quite an item now. She was helping him find a job at one of the resturants in town, and they were together. All. The. Time. "It's going to be fine, Bella, really. Mom's not going to do anything, she's really trying to be better. It's going to be a great party," she said the last part a little too enthustically, and I glanced at her wearily.

"Seriously, Bella, don't worry about it," she said, glancing at me in the mirror.

She was wearing a causual purple dress, and wearing purple and gray makeup that brought out her blue-gray eyes. She looked great, as always. Beside in the mirror Rosalie was finishing her mascara. She was wearing a deep blue strapless dress.

I was wearing a strapless white dress. It was simple, but it was pretty. I had thrown a blue cardign over it, and I had air dried my hair earlier, so it was wavy. I was only wearing mascara and a little lip-gloss, at Alice and Rosalie's insistience that I had to wear _some _make-up. I didn't feel like I needed to try to impress the Cullen's anymore. Or really, anyone, for that matter. I liked the dress, I liked the way I looked, I was happy.

Oh, and I was wearing that rose necklace that Edward had given me. I loved it.

The three of us drove over to the Cullen's together. Alice and Rosalie were pratically bouncing in excitment, rambling about how this year was going to be the best year, and this was going to be the best party. I had a strange feeling they knew something I didn't.

I was sort of afraid to find out what it was.

Edward met at us at the door, a smile on his face. "Hey. You look gorgeous."

I smiled, blushing. "Thanks."

He wrapped an arm around my waist, and kissed me.

"Geez, let her walk inside first," Rosalie said, rolling her eyes as she walked by us.

I laughed, and let Edward lead me inside the house. Apparently the new years eve party was more of a family thing, Edward had told me before. I saw Esme and Carlisle, and I saw Tanya, and Edward's grandfather, and a few other people I regonized from the Christmas party. It was a small party, but the Cullen's had still gone all out, the living room decked out in gold and party elements. The TV was turned on to A Rockin' New Years Eve, and food and champange was everywhere.

Carlisle and Esme came over to us, and wished us both a happy new year. They were nice, so I didn't really care that it was a little forced. I wished them a happy new year back, and honestly I hoped that they had one. Maybe they would learn to get to know a person before they judged them. At any rate, I was going to take the high road here, and I was determined to be nice to them.

Edward handed me a glass of champange, and I sipped as we mingled around the rest of the room, saying hello to everyone.

A slow song came on the TV, and Alice snatched up Jasper, who was talking to Grandpa Cullen, and started slow dancing with him. It was so like Alice, to not care who was here, or where they were. She wanted to dance, so she did.

I smiled as I watched them, wishing that someday I could even be half as fearless as her.

"Come on," Edward said, suddenly, getting to his feet and holding out his hand to me.

I raised an eyebrow, surprised that he would want to dance. He shrugged his shoulders in a 'what the hell' way, and I laughed, getting up and taking his hand. He wrapped his arms around me, swaying slightly to the music.

Within a few minutes most of the people were dancing with their dates, and I laughed, leaning into Edward's chest.

"This is nice," he decided.

I smiled against his shirt. "Yeah, it is."

We spent the a good part of the rest of the evening dancing to the TV. Fast songs, slow songs, whatever. The more champagne we drank, the happier the room got, and soon we were all dancing and belting out lyrics. It was one of the best New Years Eves I had ever spent, I realized.

Eventually I got too hot though, and Edward seemed to realize this-or maybe he felt the same way-and he dragged me out onto the porch off the side of the house. It was up off the ground, and you could see the stars from here.

It was about fifteen minutes till New Years, and I smiled, walking over to the edge and looking up at the black sky. "It's beautiful."

"It is," he agreed, coming to lean against the railing beside me.

"What do you want this new year?" he asked me, after a moment of silence.

I glanced at him, and shrugged. "I don't know. I don't really think about that stuff that much. Live for today and all that. But I guess I just want to be happy. To have fun. To be with you."

He smiled, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I want to get more time off work. I want my parents to chill out a little bit, I want to spend more time with my friends. I want to learn how to play the guitar. I watn to be happy, I want to have fun. I want to spend a lot of time with you. I want to spend all my time with you."

I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face. "So we want the same things."

"Yeah, I guess we do," He said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

Inside we could hear Alice annouce that it was five minutes to midnight.

And then it happened. The last thing I ever expected.

Edward moved his arm around from my shoulders, and moved to stand in front of me. He looked nervous, sort of excited, and then he dropped to his knee.

I stared at him, wondering if I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing.

He was...?

Was he...?

Was Edward proposing?

To Me?

He reached into his pocket, and he pulled something out, a little black jewerly box. He popped the lid open, and the moonlight made the diamonds laid into the band sparkle. "Bella."

"Oh my gosh." _Oh my gosh! _

He chuckled at that. "Bella, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I knew...I've known for months that you were the only one for me. I love you. Will you marry me?"

I still couldn't believe this was happening. He had just proposed to me. Edward freaking Cullen had just asked me to marry him. He had a ring. He was on his knee!

I must have been freaking about this inside for a while, because suddenly his voice brought me back. "Bella?" he asked, sounding a lot more nervous.

I laughed. "Sorry," I said, giggling. "I was just...I can't believe this!"

"Is that a yes?" he asked, still sounding afraid.

I laughed again. "Yes! Of course it's a yes!"

He got back to his feet, and crashed against me, holding me close against him. I could feel tears in my eyes, and I laughed again, bceause I was happy, and squeezed his neck. I couldn't believe this. I couldn't believe that just happened!

After a moment he pulled away, and he held out the ring to me, letting me get a good look at it. It was a simple silver band, with two spahires and one diamond in the middle, but they were set into the band so they didn't stick out. They were beautiful. It was different, it was simple. It was perfect.

"Edward, I love it," I marvled, running my finger over it.

He smiled and pulled it of the box, slipping it onto my ring finger.

Inside I heard Alice shouting, and then everyone else.

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five.

Edward pulled me aganist him, kissing me.

Four. Three. Two. One.

We pulled at one, and he looked up, and so did I.

Above us fireworks were going on.

I smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too," He said, grinning, and then he was kissing me again.

Happy New Years.

* * *

*squee* Like I said, I really loved writing that.  
Anyway, the title of the sequel is going to be a New York Wedding.  
And that's all for NYF!


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